


At the Steps of the Sunset

by Buniko



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Tumblr Post, Child Abuse, Foul Language, Ice Skating, Laser Tag, M/M, There’s a bit of humor splashed in, alrighty so uhh, but life isnt all sugar and sweets and this is what came to my mind, first attempt at an actual decent fan fiction, hopefully, i kinda feel bad for this honestly, im gonna make it happy in the end though i swear, it'll get fluffy later on, like a lot of it, uhh sad stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-17 14:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14833677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buniko/pseuds/Buniko
Summary: Han had always had it rough. His mother is abusive and he's only got one true friend. Then one day he wakes with bruises on himself that weren't caused by someone else. They had just appeared as if an injury from a dream had carried into real life. Maybe those cuts and bruises that have shown up on his body seemingly out of nowhere are actually parts of injuries happened to someone else. . . perhaps his soulmate?





	1. Daunting Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so major trigger warning for child abuse here.  
> Um this is my first fanfiction on here so I'm sorry if it's bad. I'm gonna try really hard on it since I have quite a bit of inspiration.

 ~~~~~~~

          A slap to the face jerked Han awake. His peaceful slumber had been destroyed. Whether it happened in a dream or if it was real didn’t matter. He’s awake now. Perhaps his mother had done it and was standing next to the bed ready to call him a delinquent for sleeping in till an ungodly hour; perhaps it was from a dream that he had forgotten with not a single shard left behind for him. He opens his eyes cautiously as if he’s expecting it to happen again. He looked around his room. No one was there but him. He felt a twinge of surprise hit him as he not only realized he was alone, but it was also 3:31AM. He rubbed his hand on his cheek not expecting it to hurt, yet it did. His eyes were wide as he reached over to turn on a light. It was crazy to think that something that happened in a dream would have had an affect in real life. That was a prompt used in fiction tales not his life. He shook his head in disbelief and walked over to the antique mirror he had on the right wall from the entrance. His eyes stayed wide as he saw a blossom of purple, blue and red on his left cheek. Shocked and confused, he leaned closer to get a better examination of it. It looked and felt just like a bruise. Just like it had actually happened. He took a step back to analyze the rest of his body. He felt sore all the way round just as if he had gotten beat up. A pain on his right elbow and an ache below his right knee made it feel like he had been pushed to the ground and those are what he landed on. He winced as he touched those areas. It hurt. With another shake of his head, he turned off the light and went back to his bed. Looking blankly at his pitch-black room, panicked thoughts went threw his head. What was his mother going to say? She’ll had thought that he sneaked out and got in a fight or committed some kind of crime. Tears were building up in Han’s eyes as thought of his mother yelling at him, telling him he’s a worthless delinquent, telling him he’s the cause of her problems. One match always sparks them all when it came to her. It would all somehow connect in his mother’s mind and she’d use anything she could to make him feel horrid. He winced as he thought of her hitting him while claiming that if he went out looking for trouble he must enjoy it-enjoy being hurt. That’s when the tears start to rain down. Falling back onto his pillows he rolled onto his side, buried his face in his pillows and sobbed himself to sleep.

            Once Han woke up again, it was 8:02AM. Still feeling as dejected and sore as he did when he first awoke, he got up and looked out the window to see if his mother’s car was in the driveway. It was. The boy wished he had some kind of makeup, so he could cover these marks up but his mother would’ve killed him if he dared touching her oh-so-precious collection of pallets from luxury brands. He knew he had to leave his room soon otherwise his mother would come in angry which was not the way he wanted to start this day out. He planned to try to keep his face turned to the left so she couldn’t see the bruise, and to try to get out of the house as fast as possible. He was sixteen so he had a car. Although it was an older one, it got the job done. He tried to gather a bit of courage, but it was non-existent at this rate. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour.

            He opened the door and walked down the hallway to the kitchen where his mother was. “Morning” she said. Obviously, she’s been listening to every footstep of Han’s.

          “Morning” he attempted to say brightly. “I’m going to get breakfast with a friend, so I’ll see you later.” With that he turns around and makes his way to the exit, but only a moment later he felt his mother grab his arm and pull him around.

          “What the hell do you think you’re doing dismissing me like that?!” she yelled. Of course, today had to be one of her bad days. Her eyes went wide and her expression became complete anger once she saw the bruise on Han’s face. “Oh, now what the fuck is that on your face? What the fuck have you done?! After all the lesson I’ve had to teach you, you’re still such a dumbass!”

          “Mom no, no it’s really not what you think…” He was at the brink of tears. Now how the hell was he supposed to explain something that even he himself didn’t know how it happened.

          “Oh, shut up with your beyond pitiful excuses. No one gives a damn!” She jerked him back and forth with both arms attached to him. “How can you be such a dumbass? How?! That shit you do is meaningless! She slapped him on his right cheek and she cocked her head sideways. “You might as well get both sides to match.” She pushed him up against the wall. “Your fucken go around this town just begging for trouble. You fucken enjoy it, don’t ya? You think it’s a way to try to defy me? But then you get all scaredy when it comes to actually facing me. Ha! Fucken Dumbshit!” She wacked him on the head and walked away. “Yeah, now you can go on to your dumb non-existent friend of yours. He’ll get to see such a pretty face now! You should be happy since this is what you’re asking for!” She walked to her bedroom and slammed the door.

            Han stood by the wall shaking, having a full-blown panic attack. His face and head throbbed as new bruises pierced through. Tears streamed down his face. The boy felt so horrible, so defenseless with absolutely nothing he could do. He’d move out in a heartbeat but she’ll follow him. She ironically worked for the criminal justice station for the area with a specialty in children cases. She was an embodiment of hypocrite. Han tried to push the self-depreciative thoughts from his mind and began walking to the door to freedom-for now of course. His mother always expected him to be back by 10:00PM. She thought 11 was too tempting of a time to be out as for most people were asleep by then meaning he could go around being the delinquent she thought he was.

          Once his shaking body got him outside he looked back to see if his mother was watching him through her bedroom window. Thankfully, she wasn’t. The boy got into his car and started driving to the only place he could feel safe- Chan’s apartment


	2. Darkened Refuge

~~~~~~~

          Paranoia and anxiety whisked around in Han’s head as he made his way up the stairs to Chan’s apartment. Chan was two years older than Han, so he had already moved out of his parents and was starting his life. Han wondered if he’ll be able to live like that one day. The throbbing of his heart jerked him back to reality and was enough to about make him throw up. He forgot to even look for Chan’s car in the parking lot, so that’s just another worry in his mind. Is he even gonna be here? Han knocks lightly on the door. It’s a signature thing for him since he’s quite shy he doesn’t like to bother others. He thought that if a person was able to hear his faint knock, then they mustn’t be doing much. Han started to hear the footsteps of Chan inside and sighs deeply in relief. Chan’s eyes opened wide as he opened the door and saw Han’s bruised face. “Han…” Chan looked at him with sorrow filled eyes. He didn’t know much about Han’s situation at home except for one word - _abusive_ -.

          Han was led by Chan to the living area where there was a couch and a chair. Chan sat in the chair and Han took the couch. The scene looked more like they were in a psychological clinic and Chan was the therapist while Han was the patient than two friends hanging out. “Chan, I’m sorry for coming all of a sudden… I should’ve texted or called or something to make sure you were okay with this...” Han looked down at the ground in self-disappointment.

          “Han, you don’t need to be sorry at all. You can always come to my place whether I’m here or not. You still have the spare key, right?”

          “Mhmm” Han held up his vermillion colored key ring that only had three keys on it; one to his car, his mom’s house and Chan’s house.

          Chan looked at Han longingly. He wanted to hug the younger boy but Han had never been a touchy person. Whenever some on touched him he’d always jump and wince away, but it made since due to what he’s gone through and is still going through.

          Chan looked over to the side out the window and then Han. Chan had gone through a few of these conversations before, but it wasn’t until recently that Han started opening up about his personal life. All the excuses he had and all of his methods of hiding the marks had built on one another; lie after lie which finally caused the boy to release a bit of the truth. Chan was always nervous starting the conversation off. There was a possibility that Han could just burst into tears and be a living wreck, he could just go stone cold and refuse to say anything no matter how much he’d pry at him or maybe if he was lucky and used the right words Han would stay mostly calm. Chan had witnessed them all before. They were all equally heart-breaking. After collecting himself for a moment he spoke. “So… what happened? What…caused it?”

          “Well, half of this my mother didn’t even do…” Han was still looking at the ground.

          “What” Chan tilted his head in confusion. “Then who did it?”

          “Umm” Han lifted his head and looked both left and right and then straight into Chan’s eyes. “I don’t know. I woke up in the middle of the night and I had this bruise on my left cheek and a few others along with my whole body feeling sore. Then once I got up this morning and my mom saw…she…well, did the rest… I…I know it sounds crazy, but I swear that’s what happened…”

          “Han, I believe you with no doubt.” True sincerity glinted in Chan’s eyes as he continued on. “Did you have a dream where you got hurt?” Chan had heard of some insane stories about how certain injuries received in a dream could transfer to real life, but he never thought of it as something that could _actually_ exist outside of fiction. It was worth a shot though.

          “Not that I remember, but you know how dreams go. Most of the dream is forgotten within the first five minutes of waking up so I may have…”

          Chan nods. “Well, honestly they’re most likely just some after effects of… what your mom has done…” Chan chose his words carefully. He doesn’t want to put Han into a full-blown panic. Poor thing has to go through that enough.

          Han felt a bit dumbfound by such a logical answer. That made the most sense for sure. “Ahh, yeah man that makes so much sense.” A smile crept on his face along with a little laugh. “Ahaha, dang I was getting all worried up and paranoid when that literally makes so much sense. Ahhh”

          “Don’t sweat it mate.” Chan got up and went to his bedroom for a moment. He came back with what appeared to be foundation. “If we’re gonna go anywhere today, then you gotta put on some of this.” With that said, he tossed the bottle at the boy.

          Han got up and went to the bathroom. The room was bright and modern. The entire complex had only been built a few years ago so all the appliances and styles were up to date. _Dang, how can Chan afford this place?_ He thought. When he finally stopped admiring the room he examined his face in the mirror. A slight bruise had formed from where his mother hit him but it wasn’t nearly as apparent as the other one. What would cause the other one to be so much darker? Han pushed the thought away as he started applying the foundation. It covered the marks pretty well. Only a little bit of minor discoloration from the one, but with a little bit more added that was covered up too. Han left the bathroom to see Chan standing in the living room twirling around his keys.

          “Hey, if you wanna just chill here that’s fine man. I can order up some Chinese food to get delivered.”

          Han hesitated for a moment. One part of him just wanted to sit on the couch and dwell in the darkness that his mind has been in captured by, but the other part thought that it’d probably be a lot better to actually do something, that way later on he can at least give himself credit or attempting something.

          “Nah man, where are ya thinkin’ about taken us?”

          A smirk appears on Chan’s face. “The Laser Tag Arena”


	3. One Shot, Two Shot Through the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a bit of a long one. I'd recommend listening to BoA's 'One Shot, Two Shot' before reading this and keeping the lyrics of it in mind as they do come up later.

~~~~~~~

          The next thing Han knew he had been packed into Chan’s car and they were on their way. They had gone to the arena before, but the last time they went was at least a year ago. Han had actually gotten pretty good at it, but when the situation at home had gotten worse, he became more and more reluctant to go outside especially to areas with lots of people.

          Chan knew it was a risk to take Han to such a populated area, especially after the incident this morning, but he wanted Han to go out a bit again. He wanted the boy to feel even a miniscule amount of happiness even after going through such horrid events.

          Han felt a twinge of excitement go through him. The memories of the old times flooded back into his mind.

_“This match shall contain twenty players—the best of the best this time. All of these men had come in first place in at least three other matches before.” The announcer spoke. “There will be a first, second and third place prize. Third gets one-hundred dollars, second gets one-fifty, and first gets two-seventy-five.” Han’s mouth dropped as he heard the first-place prize. The pressure was building up inside him. Especially since A: Chan was in this match and B: He was the youngest of them. Being only fourteen. The players glared at each other with devilish eyes. Blood shall be shed. The playing area, aka, the maze was dark with only neon lights of cancerous colors illuminating it. The players all wore vests that had a red light right over the heart. All you had to do was shoot it and the player was eliminated and could then exit to the players’ spectator area. There were monitors hanging in the corners of some parts that showed the list of players still in the game along with how many taggers they’d gotten out, but that was all. No maps so no one could hunt someone else down, and no count down timer to rush them along. It took however long it needed even if the spectators got antsy. There was a huge room that the watcher would go in. There were cameras throughout the maze, so in case someone had a misfit the judges could go back and review the footage. The players had five minutes to warm up and then it was go time. “I’m not gonna go easy on you, man. This is the real deal.” Chan had said before he went to his starting position. Han had gotten a few people out and once that action got dull he looked at the monitor. Surprise and new-found adrenaline flooded through his veins as he read BANG it’s CHAN and HAN as the only remaining players. But then the fear came once he heard Chan’s footsteps coming near. “Ahh, so it’s just us in the end, huh? Han turned around and then threw himself on the wall to dodge Chan’s shot. His fear became determination and he shot several rounds at Chan along with the older shooting back. After a bit of back and forth and acting as if they were in some action film Han went for the final blow._

_“Ka-pow~” Han said as his shot landed right over Chan’s heart. “Shot threw the heart~ And you’re to blame~ You give love, a bad name~” He sung the lyrics of one of his favorite old songs as the light on Chan’s vest went out. He’d finally won._

          Han was lurched back to reality once Chan spoke. “Oi, are ya okay? You’ve be awfully quiet over there…”

          A smile rose on Han’s face. “I was just thinkin’ about that match back a couple years ago.”

          “Ahh, the legendary one. I’ll never forget that. The way the spectators cheered you once you won, the way the other players were so jealous and of course your perfectional timing to sing ol’ Bon Jovi’s ‘You give love a bad name’.”

          Han’s cheeked turned red from embarrassment. “Ahaha, it wasn’t that good.”

          “Oh, yes it was man! And now we’re here!”

          “Dang that was fast…”

          “Well with you daydreamin’ for most of the ride, yeah it must’ve been” Chan teased back. Once they were inside Han looked all around. The overall layout had stayed the same, but the furniture in the spectators’ area had been renewed and the monitors, along with the other technology, had been updated. He glanced around and saw a few familiar faces. Seo Changbin and Lee Felix—Two young prodigies like him. Changbin being only a year older and Felix being a day younger than Han. He heard some rumors around school that they were actually dating, but they go to a different high school than him meaning he didn’t have a chance to see if it was true until now. Being gay and letting others know about it was still a risky thing to do. Add that with actually dating someone, and now there’s quite a few judgmental eyes all over. The two were in the legendary match and tried to do a double team to get Han out. Instead, he got both of them out. He saw them talk with each other and point over at him. Chan saw it too. “Ahh, it looks like they’ve noticed your return. Heheh, seems like you’ve made a lasting impact on this place.”

          “I guess so.” Han responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Then he noticed a brown-haired boy along with them. Han pointed to him and asked “Do you know who he is?”

          “Oh, him. He’s been around here before. Ironically, he started showing up after you had stopped coming. His name is Lee Minho. I’d watch out for him. He’s actually pretty good. He’s gotten me out a few times.”

          “Ahh I see.” He studied the boy for a moment. He was wearing a hint of makeup which made him look like a model or ulzzang with a dancers’ body. There seemed to be a bit of discoloration on his left cheek. _I wonder what that is…_ As Han studied the boy’s face he felt his face warm up the longer he looked at the boy. _Now’s not the time for this… The match is gonna be starting soon._ Everyone was starting to put on their gear. The laser guns had gotten an upgrade. Now there were a few different styles: Revolver, Sniper and then the standard version. Han picked up a few different kinds. Finally, he settled on a cherrywood revolver. He glanced over at the trio and seen they had all picked different types, but Minho had picked a revolver just like him. There were quite a few other people there, but most of them were strangers or one’s he’d seen only a few times. His excitement was building as the time for the match to start got lower and lower.

          The twenty players were allowed into the maze to warm up. Chan and Han shot each other a few times and practiced dodging. Chan was still pretty on top of things since he had keep going to the matches even without Han. He had to admit that they weren’t as fun without him. Surprisingly, when it came to this, Han was quite quick with his feet and able to move fast. “You’re like a squirrel man. Grab a nut and run instead for you it’s shoot and run.”

          “Ahaha, yeah man. Squirrel! Squirrel!” Han winked with each squirrel he said.

          “Players, you have three minutes to get to your starting positions!” The voice still sounded like the same perky announcer.

          “Ahh I guess this is it man.” Han said.

          “I’ll be watchin’ out for ya bud. I’ll make sure they’re not to rough with ya. But if it ends up just being you and me…well you know how that goes.

           “Yeah man gotcha.” With that, Chan walked away to where ever he was going to start. The timer was at less than a minute and the adrenaline was pumping. _Stay calm man. You got this._ The boy was never much of a self-motivator but he tried anyways.

          “Get ready! Set! GO!” The buzzer went off meaning the match had officially began. Han had started in a corner at the end of one of the main pathways, so he was expecting anyone at any moment. With all senses alert he moved forward checking all around. Peering around the corners like cops do in TV shows and movies was the usual for these games. _Ooo there’s someone…_  Han stepped out from behind the wall instantly shooting whoever it was.

         “Well dang you’re good…” The stranger said.

          “More like you can’t dodge. I was dumb to step out from the wall before shooting, but it worked anyways.” Han could finally let out some of his built-up sassiness here at least. He continued on getting a couple others eliminated before he had checked the monitor.

** Players Remaining **

**BANG it’s CHAN: 2 Kills**

**Minho: 5 Kills**

**Han: 3 Kills**

**Darkman Bin: 3 Kills**

**Sunshine Freck: 2 Kills**

_Huhhhhhh no way… My first match after a year and I’m in the top five. Plus, I got more kills than Chan right now, woah. But dang that Minho has five kills—that’s a fourth of the players._ Han made his way cautiously. Changbin and Felix were most likely hanging around together doing double team. Then suddenly he heard commotion a few pathways over. “Shit!” He heard a voice say.

          “Watch yo language man!” A deep voice said.

          “Dude you should be fricken running!”

          “O yo you right…”

          “Pow Pow” A third voice said.

          “Flip! Damn I’m so dumb!”

          “Goddammit Felix you really just can’t go on without me, huh?”

          “Ughhhh don’t be like that! I was trying!”

          “By yelling at me about my language?”

          “Uhh yeah man that’s the best way to play. That’s how we do it back in Aussieland”

          “No, it’s not dude!” Chan’s voice chimed in.

          “Shut it Chan you know it’s true!”

          A smile formed on Han’s face. Two aussies talking with each other always made him laugh. Then he looked at the monitor.

** Remaining Players **

**BANG it’s CHAN: 2 Kills**

**Minho: 7 Kills**

**Han: 3 Kills**

_Woah, final three already… Dang who’d know I’d have made it this far in my first match back._ Han felt a bit proud of himself which was quite a rarity. If he got out right now he’d still be happy.

          “Bang”

          “Frick!” Chan said. It sounded like he threw himself against a wall to dodge a shot.

         “NUUU my Aussie man!”

         “Felix we’re not even supposed to be in the playing field anymore. We gotta go man. It seems like your Aussie man is gonna be joining ya soon anyways.” The exit door to the players’ spectating area was opened and shut after that.

          “Ahh damn, you just don’t quit, huh?” It sounded like Chan was 1v1-ing Minho. _Ahh, should I go help him..._ But by then it was too late.

** Remaining Players **

**Minho: 8 Kills**

**Han: 3 Kills**

…………

_I’m next._

          Han frantically looked all around to see if Minho was near, but before he new it he had walked himself right into a dead end. _Shit._

          “Ahh there you are.” Minho was walking down the path towards Han. “One shot, Two shot, me and you~ One shot, Two shot, Have some fun~ The both of us, Just for one~ Just for one~” He was singing the lyrics to BoA’s ‘One Shot Two Shot’ as he approached Han while swinging his gun back a forth nonchalantly. He knew Han wasn’t going to shoot him—at least not yet. His voice was sweet, yet melancholy ran through it. Threateningly, Han held is gun straight at Minho. “Ahh, just put that thing away. I promise I won’t shoot you.” Han hesitated. Then he slowly lowered his gun. Absolute confusion was rattling his mind. What is Minho trying to do? Having someone approach him like this made him fearful. _Please don’t hurt me…_

          Minho was now standing right in front of Han. Both of them had put their revolvers in their pockets. “W-What are you doing…?” Minho put his hands on the younger boy’s shoulder and pushed him up against the wall. Han’s eyes went wide with fear. Minho’s eyes examined Han’s body up and down finally settling on his eyes. Then his lips. Minho leaned down and let his lips meet Han’s. Then he proceeded to kiss him. Gently, he pushed their lips together. He lifted his arm up and rubbed his hand on Han’s face. It was on the side of the mysterious bruise. As he touched it he felt Han try to wince away as the sour tenderness pierced through his body. With that Minho pulled back and looked at Han with surprised yet seductive eyes.

          But then he raised his gun, shot him, turned and walked away, never looking back. “Party for one~ Party for one-one~ Party for one~ Just for one, Just for one~” The ending lyrics of ‘One Shot Two Shot’ he sung.

          Han stood there. Bewilderment flooded his mind. He sunk down onto his knees. Staring blankly into the floor as if it was going to give him the answers he needed. Once he got up and exited, he found Chan with almost as shocked face as he had. He looked around the room for Minho, but it seemed he was already gone. “Han, hey are you okay? I-I’m shocked man dang just dang.”

           “I-I just…” Han was at a complete lost for words. “I don’t even know man.”

           A few other the other players were still in the room and most were looking over at Han. Changbin and Felix walked over to Chan and him.

          “Dude, I saw Minho lookin’ over at ya a bit before the match but dang I didn’t know he was gonna do that...” Felix said.

          “And here he left without saying a word to us or anyone for that matter.” Changbin spoke.

          Han looked around in discomfort. He was having to hold back a panic attack which wasn’t going to well.

          “Honestly I’d have never thought he’d be gay. He looks like perfect boyfriend material for some girl, but hey givin’ it to a guy is much better aren’t I right? Felix said.

          “Lix read the dang atmosphere, now’s not the time for your jokes.”

          “Come on man, I’m trying to lighten the mood… Ahh I’m sorry… uhh Han, right? We’ll try to talk with Minho and see what was up with him and I’ll text Chan to tell ya.”

          “Ahh that sounds good… thank you.”

          With that the duos parted ways. Once in the car Chan finally spoke. “Dang that was crazy man. Like everything before that was goin’ good but then that, _that_ happened.”

          “Ahh yeah man…” Han tried to lighten up a little cause Chan was right. Everything before that had went fine and was actually a lot of fun, but of course it was Han’s luck for something weird to happen. _But…it did feel kinda nice though…_ Han had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before. Of course, his liking was into guys but there’d be no way he could admit it. That would be just another thing his mother would want him dead for.

          “How did it feel? If you would like to say.”

          “It-it was……. nice? Sure, him pushing me against the wall was hella panic attack inducing but the kiss itself uhh, well, wasn’t too bad? He rubbed his hand on my face, as you probably saw, and once he felt that mysterious bruise he backed away and dude I swear he had a hint of surprise in his face. Like as if he’s felt it that same bruise before.”

          “Ahh well I’m glad that you didn’t feel disgusted or horrified by it. But that is quite weird that he’d be surprised over that mark…”

         “Exactly man. I just- I just don’t know what the heck to make of it. Cause before we went into the maze, I noticed he had a faint amount of discoloration in the same place I have.”

          “Ahh I noticed that too actually, but it didn’t put the two and two together.”

          “What does that mean? How could he have the same mark as me?”

          “It could just be a coincidence. Quite a strange one but a coincidence nonetheless.”

          “Ahh I’d like to just think that and let it be, but I really feel like it’s something more…”

          “I get how ya feel man, but don’t try to get too worried or paranoid about it, alright? I don’t want ya to feel more scared in your daily life then you already do.”

          “Mmm yeah you’re right. I’ll try my best…”

          With that they had arrived back at Chan’s house. They still had a bit of time till Han had to go home, so they ordered up some food, watched a couple of movies and just chilled with each other. Before they knew it was 9:30PM and Han was getting ready to go. Before leaving Han went into the bathroom and washed off the foundation he put on earlier. His mother would probably get into a fit if she saw him covering the bruise from her and the other one up. It always made her feel oh-so-entitled when she saw her “delinquent” child going around was bruises on him.

          “Thanks man for letting me use that foundation.”

          “Don’t worry about it, you can use it whenever ya want. Honestly you can just have it.”

          “Well, I’d take it but my mom analyzes my room head to toe almost every day, so if she saw that she’d flip out…like she does over just about anything.”

          “Ahh alright man, drive carefully and I hope for the best once you get home, okay bud?”

          “Thank you, Chan.” Han nodded his head and went on out the door. The drive back with full of melancholy. He knew his mother would be right in there waiting for him since he was cutting it so close to curfew.

          Once he pulled in the driveway he felt his hear start to race. His body shakes as he walks to the front door and this hands throb as he turns the key in the lock. “Oh, finally you’re back. I almost thought that you’d be dumb enough to stay out past 10 but at least you got that right.” Her remarks were as sarcastic as ever. “What did your friend think of your new look? He’s probably jealous, huh?” Han just walked right past her and went into his room and locked the door. “You fucken scaredy bitch! He heard her yell, but he just tuned the rest if it out and laid in his bed.

          Pictures of Minho kept popping in his head. Question after question came to his mind but he didn’t have a single answer to one. He grabbed onto one of his pillows as he thought about the way that Minho had touched him—gently. That was something that he hadn’t experienced in years. A gentle touch, not one that was going to hurt him, but one that was to comfort him. He held onto the pillow tighter as he thought about the kiss itself. Such an event he never imagined experiencing. The whole way Minho had done it baffled him. In the corner of a laser tag arena, that was where he had his first kiss. Who knew about Minho though. Maybe he’s the type to just go around kissing on anyone with out a care. _No, he just doesn’t seem like that_ … _he seemed like he really had some sort of attraction to me._ Han thought about the look Minho had after the kiss. It was shock, yet there was seductive passion there too. As if something had been pulling him towards Han. As if their souls wanted to be together. _Ahh no that’s just too far out there…right? Ahhhhh_. Soon after that Han finally fell asleep.


	4. Coffee? Nope! Ice? Yes!

~~~~~~~

          Han woke up thankfully not due to a slap this time. Once he arose, the first thing he did was check if his mother’s car was in the driveway. Today, it wasn’t. _Oh, thank goodness!_ Han checked his phone to see if he had any texts from Chan concerning Minho, but unfortunately, there were none to be unveiled—yet. “B-B-Blung” It was quite a unique ringtone. High-pitched and sounded more like a mispronunciation of bling rather than its own word.

Aussie Guy

          Ahh you’re probably thinking this is gonna be about Minho weirdo but it’s not. Neither emo dark guy or Felix have texted me yet…not like they really text me much anyways… we’re more like acquaintances rather than friends.

Anyways I wanted to ask if you’d like to come to the new coffee shop that opened up?

I know you’re not much of a coffee fan but heyyyy they have CHEESECAKE! :) :) :)

 

Count

Me

In

Awesome! I’m on my way right now so hurry up!

Gotcha man

          Han still had Chan’s contact set as “Aussie Guy” from when he had first met him. They had became friends about four years ago when Chan transferred to his school. The teacher had sat Chan right next to him since he was “heartwarmingly kind”. More like he just knew how to bite his tongue unlike most children these days.  They hit it off in just he first few days due to their love of music. They had both had a bit of producing experience with Han specializing in lyrics and Chan the instrumentals and overall flow. The rest was made history from there. Chan had been there for him in the worst and best of times. He was everything could ever want in a best friend.

          The boy rushed out to his car. There was nothing that was going to keep him away form that cheesecake. Plus, who knew what else they had. He actually had a hidden love for Bubble Tea too boot. He drove his car to a free parking place in downtown and walked to where the coffee shop was. The shop’s name was “Sunrise Dine”. It sounded aesthetic enough especially since it was facing the direction in which the sun rose. He saw Chan waiting nearby at a light pole. He seemed to be occupied by his phone so he didn’t notice Han approaching him. _Now this is the perfect time to jump scare him!_ Han thought. The boy softly stepped his way till he was behind Chan.

          “BANG” He yelled.

          “AHH dang man oh my god, oh my god,” Chan clutched his chest over his heart. “Dang you really got me that time.”

          Han smiled. Quite satisfied with himself. “That’s ya get for being all addicted to ya phone.”

          “Ahh whatever. You were taking so long, I had to find something to do.”

          The two of them had starting walking towards the shop when something caught there eyes. It was Changbin, Felix and Minho. Changbin and Felix were standing in front of Minho. The brown-haired boy had a frustrated look on his face as if he wasn’t being understood by the other two.

          “Oi, looks like some drama~” Chan seemed quite intrigued by what was happening while Han was a more of a curiously-worried mix. He wanted to know what was going on. He wanted to know what Minho was trying so hard to get them to comprehend. Chan edged Han and Him a bit closer. They stood next to a thick stop-light pole, so hopefully it wasn’t to obvious that they were snooping around. Begging for their ears to be engulfed in the words from something they weren’t apart of.  Begging for their minds to be indulged with info that may be found useful. The boys peered out from behind the pole to watch the trio.

          “Minho… Just tell us why,” Dark-haired Changbin said sharply. Even though from the duo’s angle they couldn't see his face, they could tell that his eyes were shooting daggers.

          “Look if all it is, is that your loco-coco gay for the guy then that’s all ya gotta say~” A more easy-going Felix said.

          “Look, neither of you would ever understand what I had felt in that moment. There…there was just something there that was just pulling me towards him.” Minho looked off to the side where the sun rose. “It felt like he needed me and that I needed him…”

          “So…you’re saying that you weren’t loco-coco gay for some random guy and that some supernatural feeling was telling you to **_become_** loco-coco gay for him?”

          “If that’s the way your seemingly small mind has to put it to comprehend it, then yes, I suppose…”

          “That’s…very strange. That sounds like something out of a sci-fi romance novel.”

          “I-I know...” Minho looked back over to the two boys. “But I swear there was just something to it… When I-I had touched him, his face rather, I felt a bruise…”

          “Like the one you have?”

          “Yes. Just like the one I have. Same spot. Same size. Same everything. I could tell it even hurt the same by the way he reacted when I touched it.”

          “Woah, now that’s crazy, bro”

          “How did you even get that bruise?”

          “That’s not what this is about.” Minho dismissed the question quite snappily. _No...please don’t tell me someone so…so beautiful, so angelical… could be being abused…_

          “Dang man, it seems like ya got a lot of secrets, huh? We’re supposed to be friends! You can tell us stuff, ya know.”

          “I have to be able to figure out if I can even trust you two. I’ll say one thing—I’ve had my trust broken quite a few times. It’s **_not_** going to happen again.” Now his eyes were the ones shooting daggers.

          Changbin looked off to the side. “Ahh, I know what ya mean…” Clearly, he had been through some rough times himself. This world had been cruel to so many.

          “Binnie…” Felix wrapped his arm around Changbin’s and leaned his head on his shoulder.

          Minho looked over at the coffee shop. “Are we gonna get some breakfast or not?”

          “Ooo yes you know it man!” Felix attempted to lighten the mood. _I wonder what he’s been through._ The blond-haired piece of sunshine seemed to always try to look on the bright side of things; always tried to help others feel better. Those are the kind of people this detrimental world needed more of. At last, the trio entered the building.

          “That was…a lot,” Han said not knowing where to begin.

          “It was, but it seems quite a bit has been explained.”

          “More like made even more confusing…”

          “Yeah that too.”

          “So…” Han was attempting to put together his thoughts about this new information. “ Minho described some kind of magnet feeling towards me…”

          “Do you get that feeling towards him?”

         “Well, actually sorta… At the time, I didn’t really realize it do to how anxious and fearful I was, but looking back at it there was a pain in my chest when I saw him. Even right then while we were watching him, I felt that feeling again—except stronger.”

        “He must’ve felt it too…He seemed to be looking around as if he was wondering if you were near.”

        “Mmmm,” Han looked at the shop longingly. “I want to see him…”

        Chan became a bit surprised by those words. Han wasn’t the type to really get an attraction to someone else. Even in his worst of times he never used phrases like “I want to see you.” it was always something more casual sounding like “Hey, could I talk with you, if you’re not busy.” Chan rubbed his chin in thought. There really must be something between them—something supernatural.

          “I don’t think right now would be the best time to go in there…”

          Han looked at the ground. “Ahh…yeah you’re right.” His voice was laden with disappointment.

          “I’m sorry.”

          “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll be okay… Uhm, where should we go now?”

          “There’s an ice skating rink around here right? You’ve went there before haven’t ya?

          “Ahh yeah, It’s been a while though not as long as the laser tag but still a few months…” Han seemed a bit brighter once he remembered about his times at the rink. He actually used to have a buddy there that was quite good and used to teach him some.

          “Oh that doesn’t matter. Look how good ya did going back to laser tag after a year. You’ll be fine man.”

          “Alright.” A smile formed on his face as they began walking to Chan’s car. But there was a stinging pain in his chest as he walked further and further away from Minho. There was something connecting them. “Ahhghh”

          “Yo, are you okay?” Chan’s expression was as worried as ever.

          “Ahh yeah, it’s just my chest hurts some, but once we get further away hopefully it’ll die down some.”

          “Okay man…”

         They got into Chan’s baby blue 1965 Corvette. It had been in the Bang family for generations and had been repaired several times. Now it was finally Chan’s. It skyrocketed to his most beloved possession. They stopped by a fast food place for breakfast and headed on to the rink.

         Once inside Han looked to see if they still had his favorite red ice skates; they did. Han rushed over to them and put them on. Chan picked a baby blue pair that remined him of his Corvette. Chan didn’t ice skate to much but he had to do something to help Han feel better. He knew that ice skating was something Han enjoyed doing in his free time, so might as well give it a shot. In the end, the more he falls over and fails, the more Han will laugh, so it was a win-win. Han looked around to see if his old buddy was there since he used to be there just about every day. He looked out onto the rink and saw him—Hwang Hyunjin. He was another one of those guys that could be a model in a heartbeat. He was cute yet sexy at the same time and spoke with constant sassiness. Han felt his heart drop a little when he saw a red-haired boy skating with him. _Seems like I’ve been replaced already._ Despite that he called out to them. “Heyyy Hyunjin! Guess who’s back! It’s ya boy Han!” Hyunjin about snapped his neck when he turned to look at Han.

          “My man!” He and the red-haired boy skated over to the edge where Chan an Han were. “Dang, for a bit I honestly had thought you moved or something… guess life’s been rough on ya, huh?” Hyunjin didn’t know nearly as much about Han’s personal life as Chan did, but he knew it wasn’t the best at least.

          “Yeah, it has but I’ve been trying to make a comeback so  hey I’m tryin’ at least.”

          “Whelp, that’s all you can do is try.” Hyunjin smiled as he looked over at the red-haired boy. “This here is my boyfriend Seungmin. He’s looks like a puppy, but he’d never bite. He just loves cuddles.” _Cuddles…I wonder how those feel…_

          “Jinnie…” Seungmin looked around with blush spewing all over his face which was only more highlighted by his red hair. Then the blushing boy turned and fixed Hyunjin’s sleeve which had became unrolled.

          “Ahh it seems I’ve been replaced already~” Han responded over dramatically. Seungmin seemed quite sweet, so there’d be no way for him to be mad at the puppy boy. Seungmin and Hyunjin both laughed whole-heartedly. “Wait, where’s Chan?” He looked to his side and suddenly he wasn’t there, but then they all looked out into the rink to see him struggling so hard to even stay standing. Every one burst out with laughter as Chan fell over multiple times while imitating the “AHH MY LEG” from Spongebob. Seungmin went over to try to help Chan but his efforts were to no avail. Instead, he went down with him. Laughter filled the rink since they were the only ones there. Small groups like this were always the best.

          “Alright everyone how about we see some real skating?” Chan said with his signature smirk while looking at Han and Hyunjin.

          “Wahh, don’t look at me! I haven’t skated him months you dummy!” Han stuck out his tongue at Chan. Hyunjin went to the edge of the rink, leaned over, picked up a remote and clicked a button on it.

          “Oooo he’s gonna show us a part of a routine he’s been choreographing. He’s shown me a bit of it, but other than that he’s been quite secretive about it,” Seungmin explained.

          The music ‘Hope and Legacy’ began playing. It was a track that two time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu had used before. Han always felt so in awe when he heard the track and watched the performance. It was definitely one of his favorites. Although his true favorite was Hanyu’s Short Program at the Sochi Olympics. The attitude, sass, and masculinity in that performance always brought a smile to his face. The three of them leaned up on the edge and watched as Hyunjin started to skate. Circling around, building speed for his first jump: a quad salchow. _Dang what a way to start it off._ His expression was pristine. Each part of it perfectional for the moves he was doing. If he wanted to be sassy, then a smirk would be shown. If he wanted to be elegant, then his eyes were kept half closed. Seungmin stood with his jaw about to the floor in awe at his star-stunning performance. Once the music had ended he came over to the rest of the group.

          “Jinnie that was amazing!” Seungmin was jumping up and down and then grabbing onto his boyfriend for a hug.

          “Ahh thank you thank you,”

          “That was so good. I loved your expression. Very passionate. Gosh, you really could be an Olympic skater.

          “I’m glad you can stand!” Chan chimed in while holding a thumbs up. Every one let out a laugh and then went over to the seating section. The rink actually had a mini-restaurant in it too boot. It served pretty usual stuff: Pizza, Chicken Wings, Ramen, etc. They decided to get a huge pizza to share. After they ate Hyunjin and Seungmin said their goodbyes and left.

          “And then there were two,” Chan said.

          “Pff, don’t be like that! It’s gonna be rush hour at this place soon. That’s probably half the reason Hyunjin and his boyfriend left.”

          But what they didn’t expect was for the next person to walk in through the doors be none other than _Minho._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo Everyone~ I'd just like to say that I absolutely recommend checking out the Yuzuru Hanyu's performance mentioned in this chapter because it is truly a work of art!


	5. Up and Down And Right Back Around

~~~~~~~

          Han looked over at Chan. The both had the same “Holy shit da fuck, da fuck we gonna do???” face. It was honestly a classical expression for them.

          “Ehem, I’d like to speak with Han alone for a moment…” Chan and Han once again exchanged looks.

          Han leaned over to his friend’s ear. “I think it’d be best if I went with him for a moment…”

          “Alright man. You remember the safe word aka save me please word?”

          “I’d never forget it.” With that, Chan walked away to go find a place he could stalk them.

          Han felt the pain in his chest lesson as Minho got closer. Han figured that meant that he either needed to be really close or really far from Minho to keep such an ache away.

          “Look, I’m sorry but I want to test something… I just need to make sure this isn’t just I my head like everyone says…”

          “Huh?”

          Minho wacked his the side of his arm into one of the support poles.

          “Ahh damn! The hell is with you and the surprise shit!?” Han fell down to his knees clutching his right arm. _Wait… he hit his arm yet I felt it too…?_

          Minho’s eyes dilated as he watched Han’s reaction. He thought that maybe he shouldn’t have his arm so hard on the pole, but it was too late now. He clutched his own arm cursing himself under his breath. Silence encompassed the two as the one sat and the other stood both in pain. People have said a picture said a thousand words. This was one of them. The atmosphere became saturated with everything that made the unspoken, spoke. Anxiety, curiosity, fear, bewilderment…it was such a shame there isn’t one word to engulf such feelings and spit them out as one.

          Han contemplated punching Minho or just whacking his own leg one the pole, but then he realized— _he’ll feel it too._ It appeared that any kind of physical pain cause from the outside was shared between them. Why was it them? What made it, so that it was them two? Why? Why Minho and Han? Han and Chan made much more sense, but alas life didn’t listen to common sense. It didn’t have any, but why would it though? All it did was screw people over; giving beautiful lives to the rich and keeping the poor in the slums with everything else in between. Han knew he was in the lower half of it. Although his family didn’t struggle for money or resources, what they lacked was quality.

          “So…it seems we really are connected…”

          “Ya after it took ya two heart-attack inducing actions to figure it out.” Once again a boy had daggers shooting from his eyes.

          “I’m sorry.” Minho got on his knees and held out a hand to Han. The younger boy swatted it away.

          “Don’t touch me! Don’t **_ever_** touch me!” Han got up and ran out the door with tear filled eyes.

          Minho was left there stunned on the ground. As if he was a bug that someone had stepped on, but not quite dead from it. _I’m so fucking stupid_ , the boy thought. Distraught with himself he got up and made his way to the exit.

          “Oi, hold up a moment!” It was Chan emerging from his stalker spot.

          Minho’s cold eyes pierced through Chan’s confidence. “What do **_you_** want?”

          “I wanted to tell you a bit about Han…” Chan lost more confidence with each word he spoke.

          Minho’s expression quickly softened and he let his stiff shoulders relax.

          “Han…he doesn’t like to be touched by others…”

          Minho let those words settle in for a bit before asking “Why?”

           “It’s…it’s a long story. One that I don’t even know all of. I’ll give you a happy-dandy hint though: _abusive._

          Minho’s deer-in-the-headlights expression said it all. Literally everything he’s done so far had been a mistake. He’d been way too self-centered—always doing things because he needed to, because he needed it. Chan started to walk away when Minho stopped him.

          “Wait, I just would like you to tell him something for me” Chan nodded “I nee—no actually I think it would be helpful if we had just a regular conversation ya know? In a causal place: a park, a house it doesn’t matter just as long as I can talk with him.”

          “I’ll talk to him about it…I wouldn’t expect anything soon.”

          “I know. Even I wouldn’t want to talk with myself at this point.”

          Chan went outside to see his Corvette gone. He looked around and saw a sticky note on the light pole. He yanked it off and read it.

_Remember that one day that you couldn’t find your key and then I “found” it and gave it to ya. Well, it was gone because I was getting it copied just in case of…these situations_

_-Your favorite panic attack induced friend :)_

_p.s. Drive my car back to your house. It’s in my signature spot.  I know you have a key ;)_

          Although the messaged seemed prankster-like, there were wet blotches on the paper that Han’s tears had left behind. A clear reminder of his inner pain. Mentally, psychologically, physically: all of him had been damaged—vastly.  Chan looked at the street with a “I’m really dead inside please help” face. Now he has to walk all the way to the parking building while worrying about a panic attack induced CHILD driving his $70,000+ car.

          Han finally made his way into Chan’s apartment relieved that he only almost got into a wreck twice. Tears were still streaming down his face as he went into Chan’s bedroom. He needed a piece of furniture with solid substance to it to fall out on. The racing of thoughts in his head was making him dizzy. Should he have stayed and listened to what Minho may have said? Should he have left his guard down and taken Minho’s hand? What would’ve happened if he did? And now that he’s told Minho to never touch him, would he opened that part of him back up? Does Minho even what to see him anymore? Then god only knows where Chan was with his car. Who the heck knew where Minho went to. Han still felt a twinge in his chest so he was probably still at the ice rink. In the middle of Han’s tirading thoughts Chan burst in.

           “Hannnn?”

           “I’m in your bed.” Han let out a little chuckle amongst his tears when saying that.

           “I can’t believe the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into…” He saw the masses of tear blotches on his bed and studied Han’s red blotched face. The bruise on his cheeks were coming through the make up due to the blood rushing to those areas.

           “Minho…” Just with that name, Han’s attention was all on Chan. “He had something he wanted me to tell you. Well, really more like ask you.” Han nodded with attentiveness. “He said that he would like to have just a regular conversation with you in a casual place. No weird surprise stuff ya know…”

          “Even after what I said he still is on the pursuit.”

          “Your souls must be connected for a reason.”

          “He’s mine.”

          “Well dang, you went from hating him to owning him—alright man you sort that stuff out, okay? Imma text Felix and ask for Minho’s number or actually…” A smirk appeared on Chan’s face. “We could just take you outside and have ya be guided by that pain in your chest to Minho.” Somehow Chan always knew the things to say to lighten up the mood. No matter how serious it may have seemed, his words were always able to bring the tension levels down and bring smiles to faces all around. He left the room for a moment and came back with a cheesecake.

         “Woahh, is that for me?”

         “Ya man, since we couldn’t get any earlier I got some for ya now.”

          Han ate on the cheesecake like a squirrel does nuts. Slowly, the red patches on his face disappeared and the tears dried up.

          “Press your number~, Press your number~” That line from Taemin’s ‘Press Your Number’ sounded as Chan’s text alert.

SUNSHINE AUSSIE BOYY ½ of ME CREW BRO

CUZZZZZ this guy IS C-R-y-I-n-G

I thought he didn’t have a heart then I thought he did then ughh now he’s like “everything I’ve done is a mistake”

OMG OMG HE’S HUGGIN UP ON MY MAN OMGGGGG

They’re fricken havin some emo bro talk over there dude omgggggg

MannnNNN He won’t stop whinnin about fricekn “HAnnie” OmG hes callin him “Hannie” da fuq I thought they hated each other now omg im sooooo CONFUSSsssed ooo help me pleasebro I need it.

I get how ya feel man

Han’s over here whinnin about Minhoe

Minho*

Ooops ;)

LOLLLLLL Honestly yo from the moment I first saw him I knew he was a Minhoe not a Minho.

          “What are ya smiling at over there”

          “Sunshine Aussie boy  Felix is tellin me about Minho and how he’s whinnin all for ya.”

          “Oh wow really?”

          “Yeah man it seems pretty intense over there.”

          “No wonder it hurts more than usual…”

          “You in or out for the whole casual conversation meet up?”

          “In.”

          “When?”

          Han hesitated for a moment. “ Three days from now.”

          “Gotta have some recoup time alright man sounds good I’ll let him know.”

          “Thank you”

SUNSHINE AUSSIE BOYY ½ of ME CREW BRO

OMGGG DUDE MY BABY CHanGbiNN is CrYInG now tooooooo

Dang da fuq happened over there?

I don’t know man.

They just started talkin about the rough stuff

;)

Shit not that kind damn

And uhh

Now theyre crying

Well let Min”Imakeveryonecry”hoe know he’s got a date with Han in three days

OOO HELL YA MAN that’s what we call

Progress

Progress

Lelel Jinx

Alrighty man I gotta comfort my baby

Lol see ya

          “Felix is having to coddle Changbin so who knows when he’ll get back to me about Minho’s reply.”

          “Ahh dang what happened?”

          “Life sucks and Changbin and Minho were talkin about it together.”

          “Ahhh, okay”

          “Are you excited for your date?”

          “It’s no where near close to that yet!”

          Chan shrugged his shoulders “If you say so…”

          The rest of the day the duo did mindless activites while waiting for Felix to get back to them.

          “Press your number~” Chan rushed over and read his phone.

          “He said yes.”

          “Finally.”

          “Heheheh exactly” Chan looked over at the clock. “Oh dude I think ya gotta get going.”

          “Ahh youre right. Thanks man for everything today.”

          “Its no problem! I get entertainment from it anyways, so hey why not?”

           “Hahaha ahh see ya man.”

          Once Han got home he smiled in relief that his mother’s car still wasn’t there. If it never came back he’d be glad. This most likely meant she was out at some bar or at some random man’s house havin’ “fun”. It did matter to him as long as it meant she was gone. Off to peaceful sleep...or so he thought.


	6. Understanding is a Key for a Reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is paragraph heavy but it's supposed to give a look within Han's thoughts about events that have been happening.

~~~~~~~

          Sometime during the night, Han was jerked awake by a pulverizing pain in his side. He grabbed at his right side where the pain was coming from in an attempt to help the pain. But then his side was jabbed at once again with a sharp pain as if some one was kicking him right there. _What the hell is happening?!_   Han’s thoughts jumped straight through all the possibilities on why he was having such pain to the one everyone was hoping it wasn’t: Minho was being hurt. Han got up and limped to the kitchen. Every step he took with his right leg hurt like hell. But once he finally got to his destination he made an ice pack. He looked for his mother’s car, but it still wasn’t there even at 1:39AM. He went pack into his room and laid on his side with the makeshift ice pack underneath.

          It hurt him tremendously to think about Minho being hurt. He wished there was something he could do. To be gifted with the power of teleportation to arrive at the scene and save Minho. To be able to protect him. Instead, he has to sit there not able to do anything yet still feel the same pain. Who was doing this to Minho? Was Minho gonna tell him? Thousands of questions and uncertainties were rushing through his head like a dam had broken. What was there for him to do about it? A total feeling of helplessness bombarded through him. Seeping into every crevice of his soul. His soul that was connected to Minho.

\-------

          Dampness. Han felt it. The wetness from his tears had remained till the morning. Rolling over onto his back. He looked blankly at his ceiling. When he was little, he had put glow in the dark stars in the formation of Scorpius on it. Ever since he first saw it, he had a unique attraction to it. He thought the whole layout of it was so beautiful, so strong. Although his zodiac sign was Virgo, he didn’t find it’s constellation nearly as appealing. He saw it as more of a horse running away from it’s problems rather than fighting it like Scorpius did. He didn’t think it was as bad as Gemini’s though. It looked like a failed geometry shape when connected in certain ways.

          The boy looked over at the clock. 11:30AM. _Well dang…_ He picked up his phone and saw a spam of texts from Chan. The more he read of them the more concerned they got. _He gets so worried about me. Why? I’m not **that** important._ He texted him back a simple reply and tossed his phone to the side. Distasteful tenderness was all he could feel coming from his waist. He lifted up his shirt to see a few large bruises had formed. It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been at least it seemed the ice pack had kept the bruising down some.

          Deep down, he had anger. It laid there. Burning him slowly. Anger at his mother. At Minho. At himself too. His mother had kept him in a controlled environment. She knew everything at all times. She hated him being able to go out on his own. She wasn’t going to let him get a car, but her mother forced her to. Han’s grandmother had my suspicions about her daughter but of course once a person get old all the things they say that are just a bit out of the norm are deemed crazy. Yet, half the time, it’s the truth. He wished he could frame his mother for the crimes she’s committed. Each bruise, each bit of damage, each weapon with blood, he took a picture of them all and collected as much other evidence as he could. That way, one day, when he got the courage or the opportunity he’d do it. He’d get his payback. His vengeance on her for what she’s done to him and his father too. His father left her six years ago which caused everything to slam downhill. Now she didn’t have her hubby to beat up on. So who was left? Han of course. He wished his father would’ve taken him with him, but unfortunately that’s now how it went.

          He wished to be able to see his father one day once he got away from his mother. Not to yell at him for not taking his son with him knowing he’d be abused worse after his absence, but to able to learn from him. The whole story about his mother. He wanted to understand her too. It couldn’t be as simple as she just liked hitting others when she’s angry. There’s must be more to it or at least he hoped. He had a little belief that there is a kind-hearted women deep down in her retched soul.  Maybe one day he’d find out. Perhaps Minho would be there with him.

          The actions Minho had taken so far certainly upset him. Han wished he could burst out his emotions and tell the older boy all he’d been through and how doing those things to him was horrible. Yet he had underlying guilt within. What if he had been through similar, but instead of it making want to stay away from touching others, it made him want to give out affection. It was quite a contradicting response, but it made more sense once Han thought about it more. Minho gave out affection with hope that, that would be what he received back. ‘Treat others how you want to be treated’ was a phrase for a reason.

          Everything Han’s known made him want to avoid contact as much as possible. Even pats on the back and high fives made him deeply uncomfortable and disgusted. How could he ever let Minho in? A part of him certainly longed for soft touches and cuddles. It had been unearthed once again when he met Seungmin. _“He’s looks like a puppy, but he’d never bite. He just loves cuddles”_ Hyunjin’s words rang through his head. The boy thought about how whenever he was sad, he’d always hug up on one or more of his pillows and stuffed animals. _I wonder how’d it feel if I…did that with Minho…_ He blushed just thinking about it. Being in bed with another boy. That was a leap off of Mt. Everest of faith. But maybe he had that within himself somewhere. He must. Minho and Him are connected for a reason. This must be a part of it.


	7. Things have gotten Quite Intertwined, haven't They?

~~~~~~~

          It was 4:00PM when he heard his mother come into the house. He wondered why she was back an hour early from when she usually gets off. Surprisingly, she wasn’t the type to try to get off early. Gotta keep that façade somehow. Then there was Han who’d barely gotten out of bed a few times to eat and go to the bathroom. It was one of those days. But suddenly his mother burst into his room.

          “Ugh, have you been in bed all day? You smell like you’re rotting.”

          “It’s one of those days…”

          “Whatever you slum. Anyways my boss has invited us for dinner at his place, hence why I’m here early. So yes that means you have to go. Hurry up and get ready. We have to go in a few since he wants us there by five-thirty and his house is a ways.” With that she shut the door and walked away to get herself ready.

 _At least she’s not acting like a total bitch today._ Han stumbled out of his bed and looked for something formal to wear. Suits were such a cliché to wear. Whenever someone hears formal the first thing they think of his wearing a suit. _Well guess what, it’s summer and there’s no way_ _I’m going to some anxiety-filled dinner to sweat my hear out._ Instead of going for the whole suit look, he grabbed a collared long sleeve shirt, a red tie, and black pants. Now was he still going to sweat his ass off? Yes. No doubt. But at least he won’t be suffocating in a thick tuxedo.

          Han took a quick shower before getting dressed since even he could tell that he had a deathly smell coming from him. Afterwards, he got dressed and fluffed his hair. On the vanity there was a bottle of foundation. His mother had left it there before other times she had to take him somewhere. Of course if she was with him, he had to cover up any marks he had. He left the room and saw his mother gathering up her things getting ready to go. Just in time.

          “You better be on your best behavior. He expects a lot from you.” With those words they were out the door. The drive was peaceful. Her boss’s house was out in the countryside. Evergreen, Dogwood and Cherry Trees were lined up all along the property line. A black, ornate gate was a few feet inland from the trees. They parked the car a little parking section a bit down from the edge of the trees and then walked over to the gated entrance. It was already unlocked. The two walked along a long flower-lined sidewalk to the mansion. Han looked all around and studied the area. It was aesthetic. It didn’t matter what someone would take a picture of there. It would be beautiful without even trying.

          As they approached the entrance to the house, the door flung open. A middle-aged man was there with a grand smile on his face. _Brainwashed richass…_

          “I’m so glad you were able to make it today.”

          “Oh, it’s no problem. Thank you so much for having us over.”

          “It’s my pleasure.” The man held out his hand. Han knew what that meant. A handshake. He shook the man’s hand. “You can call me Mr. Lee. It’s a pleasure to meet you Jisung.” Han bowed and took a step back. He felt disgusted for Mr. Lee calling him Jisung, but alas that was his name. Han Jisung.

          Mr. Lee lead them to the formal dinning room in which there was a variety of pots filled with rich person food on the table. It smelled delectable.  

          “Where’s your son?” Ms. Han asked.

          “Oh, poor Minho hasn’t been feeling to well today. He’s been in bed all day.”

          “Oh that’s quite unfortunate.”

_Hold da fuck up this rich guy has a kid named Minho specifically Lee Minho like okay lee is a super common last name but like there’s a super possibility that’s the Minho I know aka my soulmate… aka the guy that got kicked? Maybe in the side last night which would totally explain not feeling well…_

          “Jisung, I was hoping that you could make a plate of food for him and spend some time with him. He actualy likes to hang around others once he warms up to them. Plus, it would be boring for you to have to sit here with us listening to our business talk.

_The lord has saved me. For now._

          “That’d be no problem. I don’t mind at all.” It was hard for him to hide his smile. Sure, he had planned on seeing Minho in three days but people always say the sooner the better. Hopefully, this would go decently.

          Carrying his plate and Minho’s he made his way up the steps. It was a miracle he didn’t drop either of them. There was a table that the flower pot was on in the hallway. He moved the pot over and put his plate on it and went over to what he presumed to be Minho’s room. It was the only door that was closed. He knocked on it.

          “Come in,” he heard a muffled voice say.

          Minho was laid on his side in his bed. The evening sunshine was shining from a window right onto his face. His eyes were closed, but as soon as he opened them a millimeter they shocked wide.

          “Han…” His surprise relaxed into a soft smile. He looked at he food plate. “Is that for me?”

          “Mmhmm, your father invited my mother and me to dinner here. He said you weren’t feeling well and that you might want someone to spend time with you, so here I am.” Minho sat up on his bed and cleared his nightstand for room for the plate.

          “I knew I recognized that women’s voice.”

          “She’s been here before…?”

          “Oh yeah, but usually for bedroom purposes...”

          “Ahh, I’m not surprised. I knew she did those things… just not with who.”

          “Yeah she’s been here quite a few times. But my father told me he has no intentions of marring her or anything like that.”

          “That’s good.” _Otherwise we’d end up being step-brothers which uhh would be so weird for this whole soulmate thing…_

          “Are you gonna eat something?” Minho’s soft-spoken words made the butterflies in Han’s stomach flourish.

          “Y-yeah of course,” He brought in his plate and sat in a chair at the desk nearby Minho’s bed.

          “You look really nice dressed all up like that.” Han smiled for the first time at Minho’s words.

          “Thank you.”  Blush spread all over his face although it couldn’t be seen due to the makeup. The blush on Minho’s face was clearly visible.

          Silence spread over them as they ate the food. Just being in each other’s presence felt so wonderful. As if their hearts were resonating with each other. As if everything in their lives had lead to them being together. It was truly wonderful.

          “Minho…I-I don’t mean to kill the mood but I was wondering uhm….what happened last night?”

          “Oh, that.” Minho turned his head ashamedly.

          “If- if you don’t want to say it’s okay, I understand…”

          “No, you deserve to know. You felt it too…”

          “Jisung~!” The voice was Han’s mother.

          “No way… it can’t be time to leave already…” Disappointedly, Han looked around and proceeded to get up. “Ahh just when things were getting juicy… well I guess I’ll see you in two days…”

          Just before Han was out the door Minho grabbed his wrist and spun him around. Fear flashed through Han’s eyes, but it was subdued once Minho pulled him closer. Pulled him into a hug.

         “Minho…” Han didn’t hug him back.

         “I’m sorry…I know you don’t like being touched, but…ahh I’m sorry…”

         “Minho…it’s okay…” The older boy hesitated on letting Han go, but once he did he stepped back and there were tears filling his eyes. “I’ll see ya in a few…”  Han said not meeting his eyes with Minho’s.

\-------

        “How did dinner go?” Han asked once him and his mother were back in the car. He wanted to get his mind off of the sorrowful events with Minho. It seemed like he’d never be able to truly get close to him. He hated himself for it. He should’ve hugged him back. _Tightly._ **_Possessively._**  But alas it just wasn’t the right time, he tried to convince himself.

        “It was great. Mr. Lee is a very kind man.”

        “That’s good.”

         Of course she didn’t ask how it was with Minho. Not that it was fantastic, but he could’ve white lied it. They didn’t speak again till they had arrived back at home, but that was just to say goodnight.

         Once again it was another untranquil night for Han. Regret filled his mind. He wanted to justify himself, but as kind as Minho was being, he felt as if there was no excuse for him being so stubborn. He has two days to get himself together. Two days before the secrets get revealed. From both sides.


	8. Simply, Love is a Rose

~~~~~~~

          Chan woke up, not to the usual sound of his blaring alarm, but instead the sound of his phone being spammed with texts. He knew it wasn’t Han that was texting him. He typically wasn’t the kind to spam. He picked up his phone and with a smile and eyeroll opened the texts from none other than his Aussie friend, Felix.

SUNSHINE AUSSIE BOYY ½ of ME CREW BRO

DUDEEEEEEE

THIS FRICKEN GUYYYY HAS BEEN AT MY HOUSE

ALLLLLLLLLLLL NIGHTTTTT

HE WON’T STOP TOUCHIN MY MANN

MY!

BABYYYYY!

THEY’VE BEEN CUDDLED UP FOR HOURS

Omg what is happening?!

Fricken Minho had another angsty moment with “Hannie”

Now he’s all sad and emo

He came to our place in the middle of the night

At the fricken devils hour

3AM

What is this guy thinkin?????

But Changbin’s all a fricken SOFT and im like dude

YOU’RE MY BABY™

But NUU he’s given all this support to fricken MinHOE

while all minHOE does is glare at me and im like dang man what did I dooooo????

Wooooww

Exactly mannnnn

Has Minhoe explained what happened with him and Han?

I haven’t heard much from Han in days…

Oooo he said that Han’s mother was havin a business meeting with his father

Who’s apparently her boss????

And they’ve done the stuffff……

Like bedroom stuff

…..dangggg who knew this would get that intertwined

Exactlyyy so anyways Minho said he was havin an okay time

But then

Han suddenly had to leave right when they were getting to talk about juicy stuff

So he like grabbed Han and hugged him

But Han didn’t hug him back

So he got superrrrr saddd and

decided that the best™ thing to do was come to Changbin and I’s place.

At 3am

Ahhh geez

Like I get he’s all sad but dang

Huggin up on my

BABY CHANGBIN

Is not the solution

Or what if it is

Omg omg omg

What of they are actually soulmates and everything is a lie????

Dude

calm down man

omggg but it would make sooo much senseeee

no it doesn’t

it does man

YOU GOTTA SEE IT WITH YOUR

EYE

BALLZZZZ

What if we’re actually soulmates?

Da fuq man

See

doesn’t make sense

…

Right?

YUP

Absolutely

Well imma try to contact Han even though he’s probably in a depression nap

Lelel good luck

\-------

          Han was surprised when he heard his phone ring. He hadn’t gotten calls from many people except those random one’s from scammers. Those were actually a bit funny to listen to. AT this point he’d listen to anything to get his mind off of the angsty events that had been happening to him. Thankfully, last night there weren’t any surprise kicks to his side or slaps to the face. Only torment from his own mind. Which in a sense was just as bad.  Finally after a moments hesitation he answered the call. It was from Chan.

          “Hello”

          “Han… Uhh I’ll just get straight to it. Felix texted me a bit about what happened yesterday with you and Minho-“

          “How does he know?”

          “Minho went to his place all sad and needing some support…”

          Han felt guilt stab at his chest. Hard enough to make him almost fall over from where he was standing looking out the window. It was as if he was a vampire being stabbed with a wooden stake. Like he was wanted dead.

          “…”

          “Han, I know it hurts. I know it does. Minho…he really wants to comfort you. He… he really wants to love you.

          “…”

          “I know he must already love you… please try to let him in…let him love you”

          “…”

          Han hung up the phone and threw it on his bed. He was shaking. He fell onto his knees sobbing. This hurt him so much. That word _-Love-_ it hurt just too much. The boy hardly knew what it meant. _What did it mean?_ His mother certainly never expressed it to him or anyone from his family for that matter. Love was only known as a rose to him. Pretty on top. Painful underneath. Yet he wanted it. He wanted his view of it to be shattered. Destroyed. Obliterated. He felt like he was trying to grow a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true. Perhaps, Minho could be able to bloom that flower and let that dream come true. Was Minho the answer?

         Han leaned up against the side of his bed and stared outside the window into a world he couldn’t understand. Tears streamed down his face. The light from the sun didn’t shine on him. Instead, it shined right next to him. He looked at he blank spot beside him. Minho should be there. He should be able to fill that void.

          “Minho…Minho…” He found himself saying Minho’s name as he looked at the empty space. The tears came down harder. He wondered if Minho could tell when he was feeling so somberly gloomy. He, himself, had felt low-spirited ever since leaving the mansion in which the older boy resided. Was that partially because of Minho’s sad feelings? Melancholy filled his mind. He wished he could be the bright, light-hearted person that was trapped within him. He wished he could find a true passion like Hyunjin had with skating. He had fallen out of habit of everything he used to do. All the lyrics he ever wrote were sad tales of loneliness and taboo mental health. He needed something or someone to pull him out of the desolate cavity he had been sucked in. He rested his head back and closed his tear-filled eyes.

\-------

          “I can tell he’s sad. I feel it…”

          “It’ll be okay Minho. You’ll be able to talk with him in only a few more days.”

          Felix rolled his eyes and looked away from the duo. It wasn’t that he didn’t care cause he truly did. It was just that this guy that they met hardly a week ago was cuddling up with his oh-so- ~~very-~~ extremely-precious baby Changbin. At this rate, it seemed like Minho cuddled with Changbin more than he did.

          Finally Changbin got up from sitting with Minho in the chair that was obviously sized for one and went over to Felix.

          “Finally, I thought you’d cuddle with him forever…”

          “No way! You’re the only one I’d do that with!”

          Once again Felix rolled his eyes. It certainly didn’t seem like Changbin’s words were the truth at this point.

          Awkwardly, Minho looked away from the couple. He wanted what they had so desperately. Too desperately to the point he was only getting farther away from Han. Or was he? Were his advances on Han actually getting them closer in a way? He hoped so, but it didn’t seem like it. He dreaded but also prayed for the days to be shorter, so he could see Han sooner. Seeing him last evening delighted him until the sorrowful ending. Han had looked so beautiful wearing formal attire. It remined him of outfits from ulzzang pictures. The perfect outfit to push him up against a wall and rip out his tie. Then slowly unbutton his shirt while kissing him. That was only a fantasy though. It could never come true with the way that Han was. He had violated the poor boy enough. There was no way he could indulge in such rough actions to someone that had been physically hurt so much and most likely mentally too. He wanted to know the whole tale that explain Han. He wanted to know Han. He wanted Han… _for himself_.

           “Thank you Changbin for comforting me… I’m sorry Felix… I know you didn’t like it at all” Minho let out a little chuckle while Felix playfully stuck his tongue out at him. Minho actually liked being around someone so bright-spirited like Felix. That blonde-haired boy was like literal sunshine to Minho. He wondered if Han had a playful side like that, but then he realized, he must’ve at one point. He remembered him at the Laser Tag Arena. Their first encounter. He remembered that before the match Changbin and Felix were telling him the story of the Legendary Match. The fact that Han used to be so good at such a thing made Minho’s heart warm up. He really had such a playful side to him. He wanted to experience it with him. He longed to bring that happiness back out of Han. He was determined to. Somehow, someway he would. He made a mental note to ask Han what kind of places he’d like to go. Minho thought about an amusement park and smiled. That’d probably be perfect.

          Minho stood up. “Ahh, I guess it outta be time for me to go. Heheh, I’ve been here for quite a while already, haven’t I?

          “Mmmmhmmm”

          “Felix! Don’t be like that.”

          “Ahh don’t worry, I don’t mind. Once again thank you very much… I appreciate your kindness…” Changbin glared over at Felix on the word kindness.

          With that Minho left back to his place.

Only one day left.


	9. A Flower Bloomed in a Dream Never Thought to Come True

~~~~~~~

            Han woke up in a total sweat. He had barely gotten any sleep during the night. Plagued with constantly rolling over and other attempts to bring himself comfort. It was all to no avail. This was the day.

            He got up and looked at himself in the mirror. Bed head to the max with light bruises still on his cheeks. He felt a bit disgusted with what he was looking at. He had thought that his appearance was one of the best qualities out of him, but it seemed even that view was being tainted. He went to his closet and opened it wide. Chan had told him that he thought the best place to meet was in a park. That sounded good enough for him plus Minho agreed to it. He looked through his closet up and down, fluttering threw his not very colorful shirts in hopes to find a lost jewel. He yanked out lightweight, blue and black collared plaid, long-sleeve shirt. He smiled in satisfaction cause if he wouldn’t have found that, then emo clothes it was. He pulled out some dark blue skinny jeans and blue high-top converses. It looked quite well all together. He actually looked like someone that went outside more than two times a year.

            Chan had offered to pick Han up and drive him there and stay along the side-lines in case of the worst, but Han had decided against it. This was his moment. This was what he needed to do. He knew he needed to get the strength for this himself. Han laughed a bit at how much of a big deal he was making out of all this. Was it really deserving of such wonder? He pondered on these thoughts for a moment. In the end, he couldn’t keep stalling forever and made his way to his car.

            This was the one time he actually wanted to drive slow. He nerves were at he highest they’d been in a while. His mind was a maze. His body was tense and throbbing as if thorns were being stabbed into his heart over and over. Did Minho feel the same? It would be only a few minutes till he knew the answer.

            Once he arrived he tried to pick out a comfortable place to sit. Park bench, picnic table, in between some trees? He finally decided that sitting up against a tree would be nice. He could pick at the grass like everyone else does. Plus, it the distance between the tree with another one wasn’t very far, so the could sit across from each other leaned up against mother nature’s children. Hopefully, Minho would see him there. But then again, he’d feel the pain in his chest from being close but not close enough to Han which would guide him.

            It was only a matter of time till he saw Minho looking around like a lost puppy. He was wearing a long black hoodie with white lines forming a grid pattern on it and gray jeans. Han had watched him the moment he got out of his car. He had stood next to it and clutched his heart while murmuring a few words to himself. Then he walked off right in Han’s direction looking the place up and down. _Please don’t run into a tree…_ Instead, Minho peered from behind the tree across from Han.

            “Hann-Hello” Han could tell he was about to call him “Hannie”. It was a cute nickname for sure. He’d definitely give Minho permission to call him that if he didn’t call him that soon.

            Minho came around and sat down. He looked quite a bit more at ease finally being near Han. _His Hannie_ as he thought.

            “Tell me everything. I want to know it all. You got this started.” Han attempted to act nonchalant like a guy from a movie. He wanted to stay relatively calm for as long as possible, but he knew somehow or another this would end in tears. Whether they were happy or sad—only time would tell.

“I promise I won’t end it.” Han was startled by those words. That was quite a way to start it off. Minho sighed before continuing. “Well… I-…I’ve been bullied…” Han looked off to the side. He was glad it Minho wasn’t in an abusive family but abusive bullying is almost as bad. “There’s this group of guys, they don’t like me. I don’t really know why. I guess it’s cause I come from a higher end family, but it’s not like **_I_** get to enjoy the luxuries of it. My father is constantly gone on trips and my mother left only a few years after I was born. I’ve never met her, but from what my father has told me about her, I don’t want to. _Ever._ Essentially, she’s a gold digger. Fun in the bedroom, but not anywhere else. My father… he has moments where he’ll talk to me about anything just letting his wisdom flow on… and other times I’m completely ignored. He’s extremely dedicated to two things. His work and the bedroom like most CEO’s, honestly. I’m disgusted by what he does, but there isn’t anything I can really do, ya know?” Han nodded in agreement. He was like a sponge soaking in every little detail. “Soooo back to that group… when I had been hit on my cheek, I was talking to them about how my life isn’t all luxurious. But they didn’t believe me at all. They think that I’m just trying to get sympathy from others so they’ll like me. They think I’m using it as a tactic to manipulate people. And when I had got kicked in the side, that was from them too. I was running an errand my father had sent me out on and of course like most crooks they were around late at night.”

            “Ahhh, I understand. My life…isn’t too nice either…”

            “It’s even worse, isn’t it?”

            “Yes.” Han bit back the tears that were building up.

            “Han…you don’t have to say a whole ton if it’s too much. I understand you’re coming from a very rough spot.”

            “No…If I don’t say something we’ll never get anywhere…I’ll still feel trapped and I’ll reject you… I-I don’t want to reject you…” Minho’s eyes lit up from those words. He wished he could just go over to Han and hug him and run his fingers through his hair and tell him how much he loves him. Self-control. He had to stay right where he was. Otherwise Han could get scared and run away. He wasn’t going to let him do that again.

“Take your time, okay?”

            “My mother…she—she abuses me…Ever since my father left a few years ago it’s only gotten worse. She’s not the kind that apologizes afterwards either. She does it and means it. She hates me so much. I don’t get it. How could a mother hate her child when it’s not like I’ve committed murder or something…I just try to live life…although at times…I’d…rather not…” Minho felt his like a piece of glass that was shattering cause of those words. It hurt. It hurt so much. Hearing such things from someone that was so beloved to him made his heart, no, his soul—shatter. He felt himself tearing up. He would do anything, **_anything_** to make it so Han never had to feel that way ever again. He should had never felt like that in the first place.

            “Well, as you can see, I don’t have the best mental state either…” Han continued on after a pause. “All of her words degrade me further and further…after so many years of it, it has really taken a toll since it started when I was young, so that ended up being the mindset about myself that I grew up with. That was my normal. I’ve never had a nice group of friends to go to either…ahh this sounds like such a sob story…I’m sorry…”

            “Han, if this is what your life is like then it’s not a story. It’s reality and I understand, okay? It’s alright to tell me this. I wont judge you and I- I’d never hurt you because of it.” Han looked at Minho was his teared up eyes and mouth agape.

            “You’re so sweet…” Han’s soft expression quickly turned bitter as he looked away. Minho knew just what he was thinking. _He’s gonna use this info against me. Use it as some kind of leverage to use me somehow. To hurt me later on…_

            “I’d never do that.” Han’s eyes darted back to Minho’s face. “I’d never use your troubles against you. To use something that’s already hurt you once to hurt you again…no way.”

            “Maybe you really are meant to be mine…?”

            “Only yours.”

            “Maybe I’m really meant to be yours…?”

            “Only mine.”

            “Ahhh, I should get back to what I was saying…” Minho nodded his head. Han wasn’t ready yet, but with each moment he was becoming more and more willing to be Minho’s. “So…I’ve never had a whole lot of friends. My mother always got upset if I ever mentioned anything about a friend and said I don’t deserve any and I shouldn’t talk to others. I’d just bring them down and so on. I mean a part of me understands that cause I don’t talk about very happy things most of the time…but people are supposed to be able to talk to others about they way they feel about events…about what’s happening to them…of course I’ve been half-brainwashed into thinking I can’t do that. **_Ever_** _._ The only other person that really knows anything is Chan. We’ve been friends for about four years. It’s certainly the longest friendship I’ve ever had. Chan’s a very kind person. He’s protective yet daring at the same time. He’ll always try to do what’s best for me and I appreciate it so much.”

            “I agree with him being protective. After the ice rink incident he spoke with me for a moment about you. He told me how you didn’t like to be touched and such., but of course me and with my touchy ways have still violated you…” Minho looked down in disappointment. He felt pathetic for acting on is own compulsions all the time.

            “Ahhh, I wondered what Chan had done after all that…I’m sorry for being like this. I- I had thought about the action you had made a bit afterwards and I realized that that’s just how you are. You weren’t try to hurt me…well except that one time when you smacked your arm on that pole. I’m still sore from that, but ya gotta figure out that you’ve met your soulmate somehow.”

            “I’m sorry about that though…I really am. I should’ve thought about what I was doing…I just really wanted to know…”

            “I- I understand. There must be a lot of passion locked in you, isn’t there?”

            “Passion for you, yes. Whenever I’m around you I have such a big compulsion to want to be right by your side. I want to touch you, to hug up on you…to love on you…”

            “Minho…”

Minho got up and went over to Han. He sat right in front of him on his knees and looked down at Han.

            “Hannie, please can I…”

            Han hesitated. He just stared into Minho’s longing eyes. He wanted Minho to, yet he still felt so afraid. Minho rubbed his hand along Han’s jaw. After an eternity the rose was blooming. Han nodded his head in affirmation. Minho smiled and gently put his lips on Han’s. They tasted so sweet. He pushed on Han delicately. Deeper, he wanted it to be. Han wrapped his arms around Minho and pulled him closer. Minho detached his lips from Han’s and looked the boy in the eyes.

            “I love you.” Then he buried his head in the crook of Han’s neck. Han squeezed his arms around Minho tighter. It felt so nice. It felt so warm.

            “Minho, I- I…I love you too.” Finally the tears started to fall. They were both crying. They were together at last. This was their moment and theirs alone. They held onto each other so tightly. Their Garden of Eden had bloomed, but how could it stay like this? Everything was trying to shred it apart. Petal by petal.

            “Hannie, you don’t mind me calling you that, right?”

            “Not at all.”

            “Thank you for letting me in just this little bit…I know this is hard for you, but its gonna be okay. I’ll be here to comfort you. To support you. To hug you. To _love_ you. You’re **_all mine_** , okay?”

            “Mmmhmm” Minho pulled away and looked at Han, his Han, with such loving eyes and smile. The two held each other’s hands. “Can you really be mine?”

            “Of course, Hannie. I’m meant to be yours. We’re connected together for a reason. You need me and I need you…I understand it’ll take you a bit to become accustomed to this. You’ve never been able to love someone before. You’ve never been loved before, but that has all changed today. I love you, and you love me.”

            “Thank you.” The two cuddled up on each other. Laying down on the grass, as the sun shined on them from the side. They fell asleep together right there.

\-------

            Han woke up to Minho running his fingers through his hair with dreamy eyes.

            “Ahh, what time is it?”

            “6pm”

            “Dang, I’m sorry for sleeping so long…”

            “Heheh, its okay. I haven’t been awake very long myself. I was thinking maybe we could go get dinner together.” Han’s eyes lit up.     

            “Ohhhh, that’d be really nice!”

            “I’m glad you think so.” Next thing they knew they were both in Minho’s car and on their way to a fine dining restaurant. It wasn’t like the park charged for parking so who’d care if Han left his car there for a bit. Once they got to the place, they got a table in the back away from everyone else.

            “You’re paying for this right?” Han said.

            “Of course. I’d never suggest going to dinner and then make you pay.”

            “Thank you.”

            Once their food arrived they chatted about quite a few random topics. Certainly not the usual stuff you’d hear people talking about in a fancy restaurant. By the time they were done it was 8pm. They drove back to the park and had a final exchange.

            Minho looked at Han longingly. “I don’t want to let you go. I wanna just stay with you 24/7.”

            “I- I  do too.” _If it was like that then I’d never have to worry about being hurt._  Minho kissed Han on the cheek, gave him his phone number and said a final goodbye. The drive home was sad to say the least. The pain in his chest had increased tenfold due to their improved connection. Even when he was at his house he could still feel it a little bit.

            But once he got inside, he saw a sight he never wanted to see, especially after such a beautiful day. 


	10. Complications of Sorrows

~~~~~~~

             Melancholy rained in Han’s chest, but his mind was overall happy. That wasn’t for long. As Han entered his house he saw his mother in the kitchen with alcohol bottles all around. The place was a disaster and she looked as if she’d killed someone. Had she? Or was Han gonna be the first victim?

            “There you are little BASTARD!” _nononononononono no. This can’t be happening…………_ “You fucken ass the hell have you been all day?! Around with your fake as friends? Have you forgotten about all the WORK that YOU needed to do!!!?” _And now she’s delusional…_

            “W-what are you talking about…you never said-“

            “Shut the hell up!” She threw an empty bottle at Han. She missed due to her imbalance from drunkenness. Han watched it as it broke into a million shards as it hit the wall to the right of him.  “No one wants to hear your stuttering slow ass talk!” She threw another bottle, this time hitting him. She walked over to him attempting not to look like a drunk hooker, but instead a military general. The impact form the bottle left Han on the ground with cuts all over from the glass. She leaned up close to him. “You’re such a dumbass, you know that, right?” Sadistically, she smiled. She slapped him and grabbed his face so he’d have to look her in eyes. The boy was truly terrified and shaking uncontrollably. Why did this have to keep happening? Did he really deserve such pain? “WHY? WHY DON’T YOU EVER DO ANYTHING?! YOU NEVER HELP ME YOU ALWAYS LEAVE ME TO FEND FOR MYSELF! I DON’T DESERVE THIS!”

            “please stop…”

            “The fuck?” For just a moment she paused. “You’re fucking wimpier than ever.” She stood up and kicked him a couple of times with her four inch tall, three inch thick heeled boots. It was as if she was stabbing him due to the glass shards all over  him. Then, she went over to chug the last of another alcohol bottle. There was nothing Han could do. His body trembled in pain. He watched her as she grabbed her keys. “This fucken mess you caused BETTER be cleaned when I get back you ass. If you weren’t such an useless ass this shit wouldn’t happen. I WOULDN’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS!” She slammed the door on the way out.

            Han sat for a moment with tears streaming down his face. At this rate, he cried enough to provide water for a small family. His phone was blaring with the text tone. _Minho…I’m so sorry… It’s all my fault…_ Wearily, he stood up and tried to shake off the glass all over him. Now he had to figure out how to clean this all up before doing anything else. He felt like a robot taking orders with no emotion involved. He grabbed a broom and swept up the glass. Then, he went over to throw away other empty bottle. She had drank two whole bottles of Jack Daniels. If she didn’t get in a car wreck it would be an act of Satan. God would want her to crash. Her soul was far too tainted.

            When he was done he went to the bathroom and analyzed his condition. Once again a bruise was forming on his face. His skin was extremely sensitive there to all the past injuries. He took off his shirt to check the area that the alcohol bottle had hit him. All on the upper right of this chest, he had cuts, gashes and bruises there. It stung and burned as if he was being shot with fire and stung with thorns. He got a towel and lightly wetted it. He patted at the area with it. He looked over at the shower with dread. Unfortunately, since he had been outside for most of the day he smelled like ~~Minho~~ nature. He knew it was gonna burn like hell, but he’d risk more abuse if he stayed smelling like dirt.

            Afterwards he went into his room and checked his phone.

My Soulmate? Minho

HANNIE????????

HANNIE!!!

What’s happening!????

Han….

Hannie please tell me what’s going on…

I’m really worried about you

I’m sorry

It’s all my fault

I’m sorry you have to feel so much pain because of me

Really you should just go as far away from here as possible

Then maybe you wouldn’t feel it

Hannie…

I love you, Hannie

Please don’t ever forget that

            Han threw his phone over to the side. Minho’s kind words made him want to throw up with guilt. He knew Minho had felt at least some of the same pain. He opened his covers and got in. He grabbed a pillow and held it tightly. Curled up in a ball he laid there as his phone went off due to more messages. He didn’t want anyone near him. He didn’t want to have to talk to someone. He had never had this happen where he had direct contact with someone that felt the exact pain he did. Guilt. That was all he could feel. He felt horrible that after such a beautiful day, really the best day of his life, had been destroyed with this. _How could Minho not be mad?_ _My existence is causing him pain. Shouldn’t he think that I ought to “get this under control.”_ He looked over at his phone several time. He had no motivation to grab it. To see more of Minho’s words. It hurt so much. He tossed and turned. He couldn’t keep his mind off Minho though. Eventually, it got to be too much and he grabbed his phone anyways.

My Soulmate? Minho

Hannnnnnnieeeeee

Hannie let’s talk some please

Did your mother do it?

Please talk to me Hannie…

Your words and thoughts are safe with me, remember?

Yes she was the one

She was delusional and drunk

She drank two whole bottles of Jack Daniels

No way

That’s insane

I’m so sorry

I wish I could’ve been there and protected you

Because

I undoubtedly would have

Thank you

You should come to my place or something tomorrow

You’ve got to get out of that house

I don’t know if ill be able to do that

Plus don’t you feel all shitty too?

Well yeah some but I want you to be safe

You’d be safe with me

I want to

I really want to

I really want to be with you

But

who knows what my mother may do

She’ll probably not be around in the morning

But I don’t want to make any promises and have to break them

Don’t worry I understand

I’ll be here for you

Thank you, Minho

            Han heard the rain start to pour as he tossed onto his side in an attempt to go to sleep. The sky seemed to always cry during the summer time more than any other season. Why? Of course science had its many reasons, but with if it was something more supernatural than that. Maybe it knew what was going on. Maybe it felt it too. Another night of Han crying himself asleep had arrived. The rain got harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH I hate having poor Han get hurt. Life sucks.   
> Uhhh on a brighter note, I would like to thank everyone who has read my story so far! I've been reading all the comments and I appreciate them very much!


	11. Stop The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few lines of this chapter are lyrics from Day6's second Japanese release 'Stop The Rain' please go listen to it!

~~~~~~~

White turned to black. The sky grew heavier little by little; foreshadowing the future that laid ahead.

            Han woke up to the sound of the rain pouring down harder than his tears had last night. Half-awake, he went over to the window and moved the ironically gray curtains to the side. His body ached with every movement. It appeared that his mother had never arrived back at the house. Her car gone still. Even if it was there, it would’ve camouflaged in with the rest of the gray scenery. It was one of those days. Gray, dreary, just overall depressing to most at least. Some people loved the rain. Han would be one of those people if it didn’t remind him so much of the tears that constantly fell from his eyes. If it didn’t remind him of all the weakness he had that could be exploited. If it didn’t always have a sad connotation that came with it. Alas, the rain would always be the rain. He closed the curtains and walked back over to his bed.

            It was once again one of those days that he could just lay in bed all day and do nothing but sleep and maybe mindlessly do stuff on his phone. But mostly sleep. It was heartbreaking to think about how yesterday had been so beautiful. The sun glittering with light down onto Minho and him. It was warm, not hot, but just right. It would’ve been expected for there to be high humidity since such a horrible storm was coming that night, but there was no sign of it. It came out of the blew and stayed. It stayed at such a heavy downpour intensity for seemingly the whole night and even now it didn’t appear to have lessened up. It was quite saddening.

            Han picked up his phone to see several notifications from Chan and Minho. It appeared that Minho had even called him a few times. _He wanted to talk with me that bad? Minho… I’ll make sure to call you back sometime…_ It seemed that Minho had texted Chan about what had happened as Chan’s messages sounded more like a therapist trying to get there patient to open up with him or her. He was even offering to come to Han’s house. Driving in these conditions was the worst. Snow was one thing, but Han liked winter, so it didn’t bother him as much as it would most. The thing was, he never wanted to have people at his house. He always had to be paranoid about if his mother may suddenly show up. That would be horrific. Her seeing someone that actually cared for her so-called delinquent, worthless child. That get a beating for them both. Then again, Chan worked out quite a bit so she’d probably end up getting most of the beating. After all, she deserved it. Deserved to feel the pain that she gave to others at least once. ‘Treat others how you want to be treated’ was called the golden rule for a reason. In the end, Han wasn’t the kind to wish pain on others. Doing so would end up getting him hurt more at least that was how he saw it.

            He sent Chan a few nonchalant sounding replies of “I’m okay man its all good you don’t gotta worry haha you’re such a worrier”. He tried to sound a little bit upbeat; although everything around him was letting him know very well that he wasn’t. He knew Chan would probably realize that, but he hoped he would just leave him alone for the time being.

            Then there were Minho’s messages and there was actually a voicemail too. He felt a pain in his chest arise as he thought about hearing Minho’s voice. He clicked on the message.

            “Hannie…I thought that maybe you hearing my voice would make you feel better. I really want to talk with you…I- I want to be with you more…I know that we’ve only really just got things started off on the right foot but I…….I really wish I could spend every moment with you. Making memories together. Laughing and having a good time, ya know? I want to get you away from that bitch as much as possible. I hate her so much. I don’t get how something so evil could spawn someone so angelical. And I’m not overexaggerating! I really think of you like that! Ahh, I’m sorry for being so weird…I just… really like you… Please call me back, I’ll always be ready to talk with you…”

            Han took a moment to process the message. Minho was so sweet like a candy someone couldn’t  stop eating. There was no hesitation in Han’s fingers as he pressed on Minho’s name to call him back.

            “-bbeep-beep-bbbeeep-“

            “Hannie?”

            “Yup, it’s me.”

            “Oooo, I’m so happy you called! The weather is so dreary I was worried you might end up sleeping all day, but then again who wouldn’t?”

            “Haha, I wanted to, trust me, I really did, but I listened to the voicemail you left and…I figured that it would be nice to call you.”         

            “I’m glad you listened to it! I really meant everything I said. I was wondering how are ya feeling?”

            “You should already know…ahh I’m sore as hell and ache a ton.”

            “Heheh, sounds about right. I’m really sorry about what happened to you. I wish I could be there and protect you…”

            “I’m sorry that you had to feel it too…having to have bruises and cuts open up on your body even though you’ve done nothing wrong…I know it hurts.”

            “You don’t need to be sorry. You’ve done nothing wrong. I know you’ve been brainwashed by that bitch to think that everything bad that happens is your fault. Well, let me, aka your literal soulmate, tell ya something…It’s not your fault. I’ll get you away from her. I promise.”

            “Minho…what do you mean by that? Get me away from her? That’s impossible. She works for the police in criminal justice. There’d be no way…”

            “I’m going try. In fact, I think I may have something in the works…” The cheekiness in Minho’s voice was quite evident.

            “Minho…” Han’s thoughts were racing. If he suddenly tried to run away from his mother, then she’d be right after him. Then who knew what could happen. How much beating would it take? Would she ever allow him outside again? Would be put in a cage like an animal? She had threatened to do that before. “It would be too risky to do such a thing. Although I hate to admit it, she has a lot of power.”

            “I know. But. I’m gonna do everything I can to help you, okay?” Han felt quite worrisome. If his mother found out about this in any kind of way it would be the end of everything. No phone. No leaving the house. No anything.

            “Be careful okay…”

            “I understand it’s worrying…But I’ll be with you.”

            “Mmm thank you.”

            “Umm one more thing…”

            “What is it?”

            “Maybe tomorrow or sometime that it doesn’t look like the end of the world, would you like to go to an amusement park with me. It would be pretty fun plus Chan, Changbin and Felix could come like heyyyy get a whole group going.” Finally the light sparkled back into Han’s eyes.

            “That-That would great…I really would like to do that.”

            “Perfect.” After that they said their goodbyes which then left Han all alone once again. At least he felt energized enough to Netflix and chill…with himself. He was actually quite excited about the plan to go to an amusement park. It had been years since he had been. Plus, there would be the others there too. Finally, one of Han’s few dreams was coming true; Going to an amusement park with a decent group of friends. Han went and curled up in his bed. Cuddling on pillows and stuffed animals as usual. The rain had lightened up.


	12. Run Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually did a pretty good amount of research on amusement parks in Korea as i was writing this chapter. The place that the boys go to is a real place and the ride and restaurant that are mentioned are real. There's also some mentions of a site called 4Chan which is kinda hard to explain if ya don't know what it is, but its basically the place that cancer is born, memes...and porn too. Yeahhh don't go there.

~~~~~~~

            The sun glittered its rays down. It was the day. The weather was as perfect as it could be in the middle of summer. The inside of the car those five boys were stuffed into was quite far from perfect. Of course Chan offered to take them in his ancient two-seater Corvette. Thankfully, they didn’t choose that, but Changbin’s two-seater bug car wasn’t much better. Changbin drove while Felix got the passenger seat. Chan, Minho and Han were crammed into the trunk area. Such a great plan.

            “Now why the hell didn’t we get in an actual fricken car?” Chan said as he was crammed against the trunk door. Felix was laughing at every word. He had been lucky to get the only actual seat.

            “Hey, you were trying to offer up your ancient granpamobile!” Han snapped back.

            “Bruh, I could’ve totally tied you guys to the hood. That thing is bigger than back here.”

            “Omg NOOO man that’s insane! What are you thinking?!”

            “Well, back in Australia—“

            “NOOOO! man this is Korea, Ko-re-AAAA!! We do not do things like that whatsoever! I can’t believe you’re trying to be all like ‘Back in Australia’ O hell no Australia is got plenty of weird crap goin’ on there don’t bring that here man.” Minho smiled. He was glad to see Han so energetic. To be able to see more of his true personality.

            “Well back in Australia—”

            “NO! NO! NO! not you too Felix ahhhhh It’s so fricken hot back here is the air even on?”

            “…”

            “O I guess I forgot to move the dial to cold…”

            “…”

            “Changbin! CHANG-BIN! Da fuq are you thinkin’?! You’re literally trying to give us heat stroke. Omg I can’t fricken believe this…” The boys all burst out with laughter while Han was furious. But it didn’t take him long to laugh along too.

            “Ouchhhhh dang man learn how to drr-ivvveee.” Chan said as the three boys in the back were slammed together.

            “This guy just looked made us look like the car from that off ramp meme omg” Of course Felix had to bring in the memes.

            “Gotta get onto the exit somehow.” Changbin was doing everything he could to say that with a straight face.

            “THAT’S NOT DA WAE” And now Felix was dead due to meme references all thanks to Han.

            “Omg Han how could you do this?” Chan playfully said.

            “Hey, I’m just tryin’ to tell this guy that what he’s doin’ is not how ya do it.” Minho was smiling and laughing along. His eyes were only on Han though. They were crammed right next to each other behind the two—only—two front seats.

            “Oi Felix man open the sunroof we’re gonna die back here. See if we would’ve taken my not granpamoblie car we could’ve just taken the whole top off AND BACK IN AUSTRALIA—”

            “IMMA KILL YOU IF YOU SAY ‘back in australia’ ONE MORE GODFORSAKEN TIME!”

            “Looks like you two have a great friendship.” Minho finally chimed in. Everyone laughed at that.

            “Ha yeah man. This guy THIS GUY uhhh huhhh he’s the stuff man. You know in that Bboom Bboom song by Momoland, when they say ‘GREAT’ a picture of him shows up.” Chan was really trying to hype up Han to Minho. “When you search up ‘great’ on 4Chan wait, shit, I mean Dictionary.com you see a picture of Han there.”

            “Omg man no that’s not me” Han’s cheeks were finally getting red from something other than the extreme heat in the car.

            “Woah WOAH woah man hold up 4chan???!! 4CHANNNN!!!!!!? what are you even sayinnnn?!” Felix was livid.

            “Sometimes people get a slip of the tongue.”

            “Well now I know what you’re doin at night…”

            “Dude no no that not it man I swear—”

            “HEY HEATHENS! We’re here.”

            “LIBERATION” Han was ecstatic to be out of that hot car. The three boys in the back practically rolled out of the car once the door opened. It was a greater sight than the liberation of France. Chan walked over to Han and put his arm around Han’s shoulder.

            “How does it feel to finally be back in a place like this?”

            “It’s reinvigorating…the car ride sucked but it was hilarious so whatever. I’m glad to be here with you and the rest.”

            “AWWW! You better get on over there with Minho then.” Chan winked and pointed over to Minho.

            “SO CHAN! About 4Chan—”

            “Felix man droppp it. It was a mistake of life alright.” Felix rolled his eyes and looked over at Changbin and they exchanged the ‘that was bullshit’ look.

            The five of them bought entrance passes and then turned them in at the gate. Chan being the mother figure he was ~~not~~ paid for everyone’s passes. The boys walked pass loads of food places but they decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to eat a bunch before going on the rides. The amusement park they were at was called Everland. It was actually the biggest one in Korea. It was split into five different sections: Global Fair- the food and souvenir section, Zoo-Topia- the animal themed area, European Adventure- it imitates European architecture and is home to Korea’s first wooden rollercoaster, Magic Land- a section with supernatural themed rides and restaurants and American Adventure- it presents themes of American history within its rides.

            They had gotten there right when the place opened so heading to the major rollercoasters was a must before the place got too crowded. First up was the T Express. It was the largest wooden rollercoaster in Korea and it had the steeped drop at 77 degrees for a wooden coaster in the world. The boys hurried to the line.

            Minho had his arm wrapped around Han’s. He seemed a bit nervous. “Minho are you scared?”

            “Yeah some…I actually am a bit afraid of heights…” He squeezed his arm around Han’s tighter. This was the first time Han had seen Minho in a vulnerable state like this. It was actually a bit cute.

            “Don’t worry we’ll sit together. We can hold hands on the ride if you want.”

            “Really? Yeah that’d be nice…” Usually, it would be a bit unpractical to hold hands on a rollercoaster, but Minho had done so much for Han, so this was the least he could do to start paying him back. Going on the 9th fastest rollercoaster in the world wasn’t the most romantic thing ever, but it was a start. Finally, it was riding time.

            Three minutes later.

            “That was one of the most horrifying things that I’ve ever done in existence of horrifying things and I think I’m gonna die now.” Minho sputtered out.

            “Well isn’t that a mood.” Changbin agreed along while Chan and Felix were ecstatic.

            “WHATTT?! That was great! Best ride ever! 10/10. 5 stars.” Felix stated.

            “Ohh really?” Changbin cocked his head to the side while looking right at Felix. “And now who was the one screaming as if death itself was coming right at him. Hmmmm… IT WAS YOU! Damn I’ve never heard someone scream as much as you do. Han was pretty loud back there too.” He looked over to Han. “Yeah don’t you think I didn’t hear that! You and fricken Minho holding onto each other like it was your final moments dang. AND THEN THERE WAS CHAN. DAMN. WHY the FUCK were you screaming shit about dolphins and tarantulas? The fuck man?!”

            “Well you see—”

            “Don’t you say it.” Han was shooting Chan with daggers from his eyes.

            Chan smiled, “BACK IN AUSTRALIA” and then started running. The rest of the boys ran after him and tackled him down. People that were walking by couldn’t help but look over at the mess of five boys on the ground looking like they were about to kill one of their friends. The boys somehow ended up sitting in what appeared to be a cult circle as if there was a campfire in the middle.

            “What the hell are we doing?” Changbin asked.

            “Living.” Chan smirked as he said that. “Not to get all deep here but Imma say this anyways. People, as they grow up, tend to lose the things—the aspects that make them who they are. They fall into the societal norm of what an ‘adult’ is expected to do. To look like. To act. Their personalities are muted and muddied. They become the cliché standard of adult that most of us hate.” He turned his head looking at each of his friends who were staring attentively at him for just this once. “I don’t want that to happen to us. Let’s be kids forever. I don’t want to fall into that cliché of what an ‘adult’ is and I don’t what you guys to either. Yes I am and adult technically not that 18 should really be the age people are considered adults but whatever. Let’s make a promise to always be ‘us’. To always be ourselves.” He stuck in arm out into the middle and the others followed overlapping their hands.  “Kids forever. As cheesy as that may sound. On 3! 1! 2! 3!”

            “KIDS FOREVER!”

            “The fact that you just made us do that is proof you’re still a kid.” said Changbin.

            “See my plan is already working!”

            After that they went over to the restaurant called Magic Time. Now with a cheesy name like that most people wouldn’t think of it to be something actually quite extravagant looking on the inside. The boys were in awe as they walked through the doors. Large steampunk gears hanged off from the ceiling in the main circular shaped room. It had a ring of gold surrounding the gears with white columns coming down. The overall color scheme was blue and gold. It had different departments that had different cultures food. One for Italian, Korean, Chinese, American and so on. They saw that the place was huge as they went to the different sections. They went their separate ways to get the food that they wanted and joined back together a table. After eating they went back and rode on a few more ‘calmer’ rides and went to a few shops and bought a bunch of stuffed animals.

            “Oi Changbinnie! I found one that looks like you!” Changbin looked over to see what Felix was talking about and was disappointed.

            “That’s a donkey.”

            “Yeah man! That’s what you are! Hehehehheh.”

            “Hey Felix. I found one that looks like you!”

            “That’s a snake.”

            “YEAH MAN THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!”

            “Hannie! I found one that looks like you!”

“Oh no.” Han was skeptical if this was actually gonna be something nice due to Changbin and Felix’s recent ordeal. Then again Changbin and Felix went through many ordeals every day. “Oh” Han was surprised to see Minho pointing at a giant heart pillow that said Love of my life on it. Han was speechless, but he knew of something that he wanted to do. He walked over to Minho and hugged him.

            “I don’t deserve someone like you, Minho.”

            “Yes you do!” Han’s arms held onto Minho tighter. “You deserve so much more, Hannie.”

            The other three were off to the side looking over at the two lovebirds. “Now you see Felix, that is how a relationship should be. NOT saying that your boyfriend looks like a donkey!”

            “Oh shut it. It was just a joke.” Felix went over and hugged Changbin leaving Chan all by himself. Chan stood watching the two couples like a proud mom. He was happy for them. Not jealous in any way. Just happy. He knew he’d find the one for him when the time was right. Once the couples stopped their cuddling and went back to Chan, the group went to an area in which they could watch the sunset. It was pretty rare nowadays to have the time, motivation or possibility to watch the sunset. Minho nudged at Han to go over to a less crowed area off to the side. The two sat down together side by side. Though, Minho’s eyes weren’t on the sunset, they were on Han. The way the sunlight hit his face brought out the golden undertones in his skin.

            “Hannie…” Han took his eyes of the ombre of orange and purple of the sky and looked at Minho. Minho leaned over to him, put his hand on Han’s face and with only slight hesitation he kissed the boy.  After the kiss he put his mouth by Han’s ear. “Run away with me.” He whispered.

            “What?” Han’s thoughts were racing. His heart was beating as fast as if he had ran a mile. Minho leaned back and looked Han in the eyes.

            “I know of a apartment we can move into. I made a deal with the landlord to let us live there even though neither of us are eighteen, but since I’ll be turning eighteen in a couple of months he agreed. It can be just you and me. You can get away from that bitch and well my father he doesn’t care. He thinks of it as a good thing.”

            “But my mother if she…if she finds us I mean she, she works for the police…”

            “Hannie…I have that covered. I’ve talked about this with my father which is her boss, so if she has some type of outrage there’s nothing she can do. If she finds us or something she’ll receive punishments…now what those are I don’t exactly know. My father didn’t say that’d he put her in jail. Although that what she needs…”

            “How much have you told him?”

            “Basics. I have to tell him some in order for him to understand what I’m asking for out of it.”

            “Minho…”

            “Please Hannie, please run away with me.”

            “Minho…I” Han paused for a moment. There were a million uncertainties flooding through his mind. What if after what if.

            “On one of those days that your mother is gone through the night is when you can make your escape. Take whatever you can and drive. I’ll send you the directions later. This is may be the only opportunity you have to get away from her, Hannie.” Han stared into Minho’s eyes with uncertainty.

            "..."

            “Okay, I’ll run away with you.”

            Han looked over to the sky. There they were. Two boys at the steps of the sunset planning their escape from their wretched lives to become one with each other. At the steps of the sunset, they sat in solitude from others. This was theirs and theirs alone.

            “Hannie, you’re mine.” The two interlocked their hands.

            “You’re mine, Minho.”

            With that the two stood up and walked over to where the other three were waiting on them. Onto another car ride of hell. Instead of being on a Hellevator they were in a Hellecar. Surprisingly, the ride home wasn’t too bad. Definitely much calmer. The boys were quite tired out from the day and just wanted to rest at least until Felix brought up 4Chan again.

            “Soooo Chan, about that 4Chan you mentioned earlier…”

            “IT WAS A MISSSSTAKKKEEE. AHHH Come on cuz believe me! We’re fellow Aussies!” Chan’s accent was as thick as ever with that statement. 

            “Hahaha, fine fine.” Felix smiled over at Changbin. They knew there was something more…or at least it was funnier to think of what Chan would be doing on such a cancerous site.

            Once Han was dropped off at his place, he prayed that his mother was either not there or in a decent mood. It would be just so unlucky for two beautiful days to be ruined by her. Han noticed as he walked up the sidewalk that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. That was a good sign at least. He looked over to the driveway and saw her car wasn’t there. Finally, relief settled in, but then there was questioning. Should he enact on Minho and his plan now? No. She definitely could still come home. It wasn’t that late. He tried to push his other paranoid thoughts from his mind. His mother wasn’t here to torture him. Why does his mind think that it needs to in her place? Now was not the time for it. It should never be the time for it. Han went into his room and laid in his bed. Maybe now, he could rest peacefully.


	13. Dreams Come True at the Steps of the Sunrise

~~~~~~~

          Han looked at his phone. Rereading all the reassurance lined texts Minho had been sending him for the past hour. It was one of those days that his mother was gonna be gone all night at least that's what he thought. She had came home for about five minutes to drop some of her work stuff off and hurried out. Guess she couldn't have those classified files in her car not that it seemed like she did much with them anyways. The boy paced around his room. His worries were eating him from the inside out. The longer he waited, the more of a possibility she could come back which only made panic more. Minho had offered to come there and help him, but Han denied him immediately. He couldn't risk it. He couldn't risk the one that meant most to him, yet being away from him hurt so much - physically and mentally. Their souls intertwined creating match of a lifetime. 

          Everything was pulling him towards Minho, yet due to the events that have happened to him, due to what he's had to go through, even with the supernatural element that had come into play it was so hard for him to leave all he knew behind even if he hated it. He tried to use the time he was wasting to use by packing his bags. There wasn't much he wanted to take. His clothes were one. His stuffed animals were the other cause they're fricken cute. He looked around try to find something he had an attachment to. That mirror. The one that started it all when he looked at it that day and found the bruise from seemingly nowhere. He he thought that he might as well take it. If he couldn't find a good place for it he could just take it to a thrift store or sell it somewhere. It didn't take him very long to pack. The more anxious he was the faster he could do things. He paced around some more.  _I just gotta take this shit, throw it in my car and leave. Why the hell is this so hard?_ He had a completely rational side that realized how dumb it was to be all anxious and worrying. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. This would change his entire future. Why was he holding back? He thought of the horrific scenarios of if his mother found the him with Minho. He shook uncontrollably at the thought. It was possible. They were still gonna be in the same town. Even if it was the other side of town, it was still the same town. Plus, she worked for the police. Ironically, with child abuse cases. He read over Minho's texts again. Minho's father was her CEO. He certainly had a lot of power. Minho had told him not to worry about it. That he'd do everything he could to protect him.  _Minho...Minho..._ His heart was aching. He longed to be with Minho so bad. 

          He grabbed his two bags and in one hand and the mirror in the other. Shaking, he stared at the front door.  _This is it. If I just go out those doors, I'll be free...? No no i cant do this... What if she sees my car on the road....what if she follows me ahhh no no..._ He looked back to his room. He could just go back there. He could just stay and not risk it or he could leave and change everything forever. Once she sees that he's not there, she'll know instantly what had happened. That he ran away. Painfully, he took steps closer to the door. Even if he got out the door he still had the whole car ride there to go. A whole car ride of horrific 'what if' scenarios, but then Minho would be there. He could be with him. He could be all wrapped up in Minho's arms. Minho would be with him 24/7. It was their place for them and them alone. It could be their heaven on Earth away from all the people that had hurt them. 

          Trembling, he opened the door. No sign of his mother around. He could feel the tears come to eyes. He rushed over to his car and threw his stuff inside. Newfound determination had filled him. He was the kind of person that had the hardest time in the world getting on stage but once he was there he'd perform perfectly. He took the back roads through town while looking at every car that went by. He was so scared she'd see him. That he'd see her. A police car zoomed by almost giving him a heart attack as he thought maybe his mother had sent that after him.  Finally, he found the set of apartments that Minho had described to him; gray with black and blue accents with trees around the sides. He searched for where Minho's car was parked and parked in the space next to it. At some apartments the spaces were assigned, so he didn't want to take someone else's spot even though he was having a complete crisis. He grabbed his stuff and rushed inside the building fearing his mother could be nearby and could see him. He crammed himself and his crap into the  ~~hell~~ elevator and went to the third floor where their apartment was. Down a long hallway, turn right go down a bit more and there it was. His heart was racing as he knocked on the door. Minho was speechless as Han walked inside and dropped his stuff.

           The tears started to fall from both of the boys' eyes. No words needed to be exchanged for the message to be known. Han rushed into Minho's arms. They held onto each other tighter than ever. 

           "Hannie...I love you. I love you so much...I'm so glad that you-you came here to be with me. I know it was so hard, but..." He pulled back looked Han in the eyes. "I'll protect you. I promise."          

           "Minho..." Minho leaned in to kiss Han. He wrapped his arms around Han's waist. The memory of when he first kissed him ran through his mind. He remembered the feeling of desire and need that he felt at that moment. This right now was similar. He had Han right in his arms. He was really his now. He pushed him against the wall and rubbed his hands up and down Han's waist. Minho certainly knew how to be one thing and that was _passionate_ _._  He needed Han to feel his affection. Han needed Minho's affection. Finally he pulled away, but Han had his arms around Minho so he couldn't move too far. Minho squeezed Han's cheeks. 

          "You're so cute." He fondly looked at the boy. He could already tell Han's neediness was coming out. He didn't mind that. It was understandable for him to be like that. He thought of it as pretty cute and it gave him more of a reason to love on him. "Come on let me show ya around~" Right inside was the living room and kitchen combo, there was a bathroom and bedroom off of the living room. There was a couch and TV set up in the living room and the kitchen had all the standard appliances. When they entered the bedroom was where the questions started.

          "What are those?" Han pointed at the tied up bags all around the bed. 

          "Ooo those. They're my bundles. See, instead of putting things into suitcases or other places I just pack it all into bundles. I'll make sure to move them out of the way once we get settled in."

          "Ahh that's a...interesting way to pack stuff." Han brought his suitcases into the bedroom.

          "Just clothes, stuffed animals and an ancient mirror?"

          "Yup. I just didn't have much that I actually wanted with me. This is the best stuff anyways." He pulled out the pillow Minho had got him at the amusement park. "This one is my favorite honestly." Minho smiled delightedly. He was glad Han had thought of the gift as something more than a cheesy pillow. Han looked over at the bed. "Umm...are we... gonna sleep there  _together? "_  

          "Only, if you feel comfortable with that. I know it's kinda weird at least that's how society views it to be. But this place is for me and you. Only us." Minho smirked. "Ya know, instead of cuddling with all those stuffed animals, you could cuddle with me now. You seemed to really like holding onto me earlier." Han looked away blushing and embarrassed.  "But only if you feel okay with that. I have some extra blankets and pillows so the couch is an option if ya want. I'm not gonna force you into anything that would make you uncomfortable."  _Omg, I can cuddle with him now. Should I?  He's so cuddle-able..._ The blush on Han's face got brighter. Minho looked at him and knew what he was thinking about. "Is that blushing face of yours saying yes?"

         "Mmhmm...as long as you don't mind..."

         "Of course I don't mind. I was the one that suggested it. Ya know, it's gettin' pretty late already. We can settle in and get our stuff sorted tomorrow. We should rest. Especially you. You need a good cuddle."

          "Ahh, I should get a shower first. I'm all sweaty from anxiety."

          "That's fine. Go ahead and test it out!" Han went into the bathroom and had a moment of thinking time just to himself.  _Here I am. I've ran away from home with another guy._ He let out a little chuckle.  _Who knew this is what would happen. A mysterious bruise has turned into all this. But this is good...?  Minho has essentially saved me.  No. He has saved me. But my mothe- no, Minho was very confident in that his father has enough power to keep her shut up. People say sex sells for a reason. I have Minho now. He's all mine._

Once Han got done with is shower he went back to the bedroom and saw that Minho had hung up some aesthetic lights on the wall and had turned the main light off creating a warm, homey atmosphere. He was already laid up in bed on his phone appearing to be texting someone. "Who ya textin?" Han said as he peered in. 

          "The group chat." Han turned his head in confusion.  "Heheh, Chan, Changbin, Felix and I made one together to talk about you. They all wanted to help you too ya know. We brainstormed several...interesting ideas to try to get you out of that place. I'm glad we didn't have to resort to those. Don't worry I'm adding you to it right now~"

         "They were really thinking about me that much?"

         "Mmhmm for sure. They all care about you so much." Minho patted his hand on the bed. "Come on and lay down." Han got into the bed and snuggled right up against Minho. Minho put his phone to the side and returned the snuggling. It was only a matter of minutes until they were intertwined with one another. Han buried his face in Minho's chest. Minho could feel the wetness of Han's tears. He ran his hand through Han's hair. "It's okay now, Hannie. It's just us now." Han pulled back a bit to look at Minho's face

         "I'm sorry for crying so much..."

         "You don't need to be sorry at all." The two snuggled tighter. Finally a truly peaceful night awaited them.

         "I love you, Minho."

         "Hannie, I love you too.

\-------

          When Han woke up he saw that Minho had already gotten up and was on the balcony drinking coffee. He went out there and joined him. "Good morning~"

          "Good morning Hannie! Looks like ya slept pretty well."

          "Best sleep I've had in years, honestly."

          "I'm glad."

          The two stood side by side, at the steps of the sunrise, they looked at the town. This was it. The new beginning for them both. Everything that had happened in their lives had led up to this. They were fated to be together for a reason. Their hearts resonated with one another for a reason. They could feel each others pain for a reason. They were meant to be. A seemingly tragic tale that no one would've thought to have a happy ending had now came into existence. It was their tale. Their story. But, it wasn’t _just_ them. They had Chan, Changbin and Felix to hang around. They could start hanging around Hyunjin and Seungmin too. They held each other’s hand and looked at each other. They knew this was _the_ moment. The final bit of realization had fell into place. Their pain wasn't all for nothing. It led them to each other. Everything in their lives happened for a reason. Now they were together. This time they both leaned in for a kiss with arms tight around each other.

It was theirs and theirs alone at the steps of the sunrise.

          

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all the comments and kudos! Finally, the two have a happy ending, hooray! When writing this chapter I thought about the lyrics of WJSN's 'Dreams Come True' and as you can see music influences and inspires my writing quite a bit. Once again thank you for reading this story! I have some ideas for future fics so stay tuned ;)


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